U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he believes the United States and Europe can reach an agreement to provide security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a possible peace deal to end Russia’s war.
“I’m optimistic that we can come to an agreement together that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine, and I actually don’t think that’s going to happen,” Trump said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House.
“I think European countries are going to take a big part of the burden. We’re going to help them and we’re going to make it very safe,” he added.
Trump also said the leaders would discuss territorial swaps between Russia and Ukraine “given the current line of contact. That means a war zone.”
The US president had earlier told reporters during a meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office that a ceasefire was “unnecessary”, but changed his mind about an hour later when European leaders joined the talks.
“We would all obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. And maybe something like that could happen. It’s not happening at the moment, but President Zelensky and (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin can talk a little bit more about that,” he said.
Trump expressed optimism that a trilateral summit with him, Zelensky and Putin would follow the White House talks.
“I think when we get it done, and we will, it’s a matter of when, not if, and you’ll see some very, very positive moves,” he said. “I know there are over 1,000 prisoners and I know they’re going to be released, very quickly, almost immediately, which I think is great. We’ll get that done today, after this meeting.”
Trump said he would meet with European leaders in the Oval Office after they wrap up their talks in an unscheduled meeting, which could be a sign that the talks are progressing well.
