U.S. President Donald Trump says he has called Russian President Vladimir Putin and begun to arrange a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a critical step toward bringing a possible end to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Trump said the meeting’s location will be determined later.

Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders met at the White House earlier Monday for hastily assembled multilateral talks, which came after Trump met with Putin on Aug. 15 and shut the other leaders out. European political leaders joined discussions as they pursue means to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow.

Trump, who bragged on numerous occasions during the campaign that he could settle Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day, said repeatedly Monday that it was far more complicated than he ever thought it would be.

But he also suggested — likely implausibly — that the fighting that has raged for years could wind down quickly.

“A week or two weeks, we’ll know whether we’re going to solve this, or if this horrible fighting is going to continue,” said Trump, even suggesting the issues yet to be hammered out weren’t “overly complex.”

US President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear. Trump made the pledge during an extraordinary summit at the White House, where he hosted Zelenskiy and a group of European allies days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

"When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help," Trump told reporters, adding that European countries would be involved. "They are a first line of defence because they're there, but we'll help them out."

Zelenskiy hailed the promise as "a major step forward," adding that the guarantees would be "formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days" and saying Ukraine offered to buy about $90 billion worth of US weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday after his meeting with US President Donald Trump and European leaders that security guarantees for Kyiv will likely be worked out within 10 days.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz credited U.S. President Donald Trump with persuading Russia's President to agree to a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart.

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky looked set for a peace summit after fast-moving talks on Monday between US commander-in-chief Donald Trump and European leaders, focusing on the key issue of long-term security guarantees for Kyiv.

The Finnish President said on Monday in Washington that his Russian counterpart was not trustworthy, after meeting at the White House with the US President, Ukrainian head of state and European leaders.
"Putin is rarely to be trusted. So now it remains to be seen whether he has the courage to come to this type of meeting. Does he have the courage to come to a trilateral meeting, or is he once again playing for time?" the Finnish President Alexander Stubb told Finnish reporters. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that his country's allies would likely outline security guarantees if a peace deal is secured with Moscow.

"Security guarantees will probably be decided by our partners, and there will be more and more details," Zelensky told journalists outside the White House following talks with US President Donald Trump. Zelensky added that those plans would be "formalized in some way in the next week or ten days.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that White House talks involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not raise Kyiv surrendering territory, despite US leader Donald Trump's public calls for compromise.

Asked by reporters if Trump had said that concessions were necessary before any US security guarantees to Ukraine, Macron said, "No, that wasn't discussed at all. We're well away from that."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz credited US President Donald Trump with persuading Russia's President to agree to a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart.

This meeting, to which Vladimir Putin agreed during a phone call with Trump, would take place at a yet-to-be-determined location, the German chancellor said. 

"We don't know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit. Therefore, persuasion is needed," said Merz, who was part of a delegation of European leaders who travelled to Washington on Monday to lend support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During a break in the meeting, "the American president spoke with the Russian president on the phone and agreed that there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks," he told reporters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday following talks at the White House that he would be willing to meet directly with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of his country.

"I confirmed -- and all European leaders supported me -- that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin," Zelensky told Ukrainian media outside the White House following talks with several European leaders and Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday that he is willing to meet Ukranian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, a person familiar with the call said.
Putin told Trump, whom he met Friday in Alaska, of his readiness to meet Zelensky during a telephone call in a break from White House talks in Washington with European leaders, the person said on condition of anonymity.

US President Donald Trump said Monday he had started arranging a two-way peace meeting between Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- to be followed by three-way talks involving himself.

"At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," Trump said after hosting Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.

"After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself."

US President Donald Trump interrupted a meeting with European leaders at the White House Monday to call Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on efforts to reach a Ukraine deal, a source close to the talks said.

The call came as Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the European Commission and NATO, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

French President Emmanuel Macron called Monday for a four-way meeting including Europeans in response to US President Donald Trump's hopes of bringing together the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
"I think as a follow up we would need probably a quadrilateral meeting, because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent," Macron said at a White House meeting bringing together European leaders, Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky on Monday gave an upbeat asessment of talks with US counterpart Donald Trump and said they discussed security guarantees.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump expressed hope that Monday's critical talks with Ukrainian and European leaders at the White House could lead to trilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to Russia's war on Ukraine.
Monday's hastily assembled meeting comes after Trump met with Putin and has said that the onus is now on Zelenskyy to agree to concessions that he said could end the war.
A group of European political heavy-hitters will also meet with the U.S. president after they were left out of Friday's summit, and they are looking to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow.

US President Donald Trump repeated on Monday his view that a ceasefire was not necessary to end the Russia-Ukraine war, echoing earlier comments that brought his position more in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he met last week.

"I don't think you need a ceasefire," Trump said, sitting alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. "I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand strategically why one country or the other wouldn't want it. You have a ceasefire and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild and you know maybe they don't want that."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he was open to holding an election in safe circumstances if the war with Russia comes to an end.

During a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Zelenskiy said, "We need to work in parliament because during the war you can't have elections," adding that it needed to be possible for people to have a democratic, open, legal election.

Elections in Ukraine are currently suspended under martial law.

President Donald Trump said Monday that his country will be involved in providing security guarantees as part of a peace agreement on ending Russia's war.

Speaking to reporters at the White House alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said that while European countries are "the first line of defense because they are there, they are Europe, we're going to help them out also. We'll be involved."

US President Donald Trump said Monday that if his meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky went well he expected to hold a trilateral meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin with the objective of ending the Ukraine-Russia war.

"We're going to have a meeting. I think if everything works out well today we'll have a trilat and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that," said Trump, sitting alongside Zelensky at the White House.

US President Donald Trump has welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, days after meeting Vladimir Putin to discuss Ukraine war

Air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv on Monday, AFP journalists heard, ahead of highly-anticipated talks in Washington between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US leader Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian air force said on social media an air alert was triggered across the country because a Russian MiG-31 was detected taking off, capable of carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles that Moscow has been using in attacks.

European leaders began arriving at the White House on Monday ahead of high-stakes talks with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a possible peace deal with Russia.

NATO chief Mark Rutte, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were the first to turn up, after huddling with Zelensky at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington.

The European political heavyweights expected in Washington are Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Russian attacks, including on an apartment block in Kharkiv city, killed 14 people across Ukraine, authorities said Monday, ahead of talks in Washington between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US leader Donald Trump.

The early-morning drone attack on Kharkiv reduced part of a five-storey residential building to rubble and sparked fires on at least three floors, governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram.

The emergency services posted videos showing rescuers trying to break through rubble to free a trapped resident.

The European Union's 27 leaders will discuss Ukraine and the outcome of high-stakes White House talks in a videoconference on Tuesday, European Council president Antonio Costa said on Monday.

"I have convened a video conference of the members of the European Council for tomorrow at 13.00 CEST, for a debriefing of today's meetings in Washington DC about Ukraine. Together with the US, the EU will continue working towards a lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine's and Europe's vital security interests," Antonio Costa wrote on X.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will discuss securing Western security guarantees for Ukraine during a meeting Monday with President Donald Trump and top European leaders.

"We will have time to speak about the architecture of security guarantees. This is, really, the most important," Zelensky said at talks with Trump's special envoy on Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.