Ukrainian President Voldy Mee Zelensky visits the White House to discuss a peace deal with Donald Trump following the US President’s Putin Summit
Trump welcomes Putin and the Alaska Summit called “very productive”
President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Alaska Summit “very productive,” but said there was “no deal.”
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has abandoned his pursuit of a ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine and calls for a peace deal after an Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin failed to produce an immediate deal.
“The best way to end the horrifying war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement to end the war, and often not halt,” Trump said after speaking on the phone with Ukrainian President Voldy Mee Zelensky and European leaders.
Trump said Zelensky will be in Washington on August 18 for an oval office meeting with both leaders after the February 28 clash.
The Trump administration suspended sharing intelligence and shipping weapons to Ukraine after the incident. Zelenskyy refused to apologise for his role in spat shortly afterwards. However, he sent Trump a settlement letter that helped him track the relationship a few days later.
Trump began turning his back from Putin towards Zelensky in late April after Russia attacked Kiev with missiles. He said that in mid-July, Europe allowed Europe to purchase arms from the US for Ukraine, and that if Putin had not agreed to the peace deal in a short period of time, he threatened to attack Russia and its trading partners with sanctions and tariffs.
The resulting summit with Alaska’s President Putin was praised by both presidents as being productive, but no specific agreement or ceasefire was mentioned. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said he would be accepting unspecified deals that President Putin was moving forward during the nearly three-hour closing door talk. He said the next step in the process would be to meet in person at their own summit, where Zelensky and Putin offered to mediate.
Zelenskyy first revealed his plans to visit Washington next week in an overnight post at X. They talked for about an hour and a half, and the European leader joined in the second half of the call, he said.
“In my conversation with President Trump, I said that if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to avoid an honest end of the war, sanctions should be strengthened. Sanctions are an effective tool,” he said. “Security must be guaranteed and long-term guaranteed. Both European and US involvement must discuss all issues important to Ukraine with Ukrainian participation, especially those of the territorial region, which can be determined without Ukraine.”
In statements from their own European leaders, they threw their support behind the Putin Zelensky summit with Trump, calling for Ukraine’s US-backed security guarantees.
“It’s up to Ukraine to make a decision about its territory,” the leader said. “International borders must not be forced to change.”
