Donald Trump has welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Keir Starmer and other European leaders are also there for talks about ending the war in Ukraine. Watch and follow live below.
Monday 18 August 2025 19:00, UK
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The Trump-Zelenskyy meeting in front of the press comes to an end after just under half an hour.
The final question from the media is about whether Trump wanted anything more from his recent summit with Vladimir Putin.
Trump says: “I was just telling the president… I just spoke to President Putin indirectly, and we’re going to have a phone call right after these meetings today.
“And we may or may not have a trilat – if we don’t have a trilat, then the fighting continues.
“And if we do, we have a good chance, I think if we have a trilat there’s a good chance of maybe ending it.
“But, he’s expecting my call when we’re finished with this meeting.”
Earlier in the meeting, President Zelenskyy said he was ready for a trilateral between himself, Putin and Trump.
Trump is asked again about security guarantees for Ukraine following a peace deal.
A reporter asks if he will commit US troops to “NATO-like” protection for Ukraine to get Volodymyr Zelenskyy to a deal.
“We have people waiting in another room right now. They’re all here from Europe – biggest people in Europe – and they want to give protection. They feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with that.
“I think it’s very important. I think it’s very important to get the deal done.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is keeping quiet currently as Donald Trump moans about domestic issues.
The US leader has taken issue most with mail-in voting, but also ran through a series of other topics he’s frequently complained about like undocumented immigration.
But while Trump ran through it in a lengthy monologue, Zelenskyy kept quiet, watching on.
Asked by a journalist if he is open to holding an election in Ukraine, President Zelenskyy responds in the affirmative.
But he says it has to be done in safe circumstances.
“Because during the war, you can’t have elections”, Zelenskyy says, adding that a truce might be needed.
This would have to be on land, sea and sky to make it possible to do “democratic” and “legal” elections, the Ukrainian president says.
President Trump responds – and it’s hard to tell if he’s being sarcastic or making a joke: “So you say during the war you can’t have elections?
“So let me just say three and a half years from now, so you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections?”
Zelenskyy laughs and Trump smiles as the pair talk over each other, with the Ukrainian leader saying “you like this idea?”.
This is a reference to when the next US election cycle take place, in which Trump would be ineligible to stand as things currently sit.
The exchange ends with Zelenskyy shaking his head.
Donald Trump talks up the Patriot missile defence systems.
He describes how, under his administration, those systems are sold to NATO rather than given to Ukraine, as was the case under Joe Biden.
“We’ve made more progress in settling this war in the last two months than they did in four years,” he claims.
Donald Trump says there doesn’t need to be a ceasefire in Ukraine.
A peace deal can be worked out while Ukraine and Russia are at war, he says.
“I don’t think you need a ceasefire. You know, if you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war, I didn’t do any ceasefires.
“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 maybe they don’t want that.”
He says he likes the “concept of a ceasefire” because people would stop being killed, but “we can work a deal where we’re working on a peace deal while they’re fighting”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been complimented on the suit he’s worn to the Oval Office.
The meeting so far has been better-natured than last time, with the leaders seemingly getting on much better and the Ukrainian leader going as far as joking in front of the assembled media.
Reporter Brian Glenn, who questioned Zelenskyy over not wearing a suit in February, told the Ukrainian leader: “You look fabulous in that suit.”
To which Trump said: “I said the same thing,” pointing out that Glenn had “attacked” Zelenskyy last time.
In response, Zelenskyy said: “I remember that,” and joked Glenn was wearing the same suit as last time: “I changed, you did not.”
In response to Glenn’s question, Zelenskyy confirmed he would hold elections when able to.
Donald Trump is asked if he understands what the “root causes” of the war are.
The question references a phrase deployed by Vladimir Putin to attempt to justify his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and repeated attacks on civilian centres.
“The war is going to end. This gentleman wants it to end, Vladimir Putin wants it to end, I think the whole world is tired of it, and we’re going to get it ended,” says Trump.
“I’ve ended six wars,” claims the president.
“And I thought this maybe would be the easiest one, and it’s not the easiest one, it’s a tough one, a lot of reasons for it, and there’ll be talking about it for a long time.”
He adds: “I feel confident that we’re going to get it solved.”
Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump are still answering questions from journalists in the White House.
Earlier, asked about the Ukrainian leader saying it was on Russia to end the war, and the US chief saying it was on Ukraine, Trump says: “I think we’re going to have a meeting.
“I think that if everything works out well today, we’ll have a tri-lat, and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.”
Donald Trump has said there will be some form of security guarantees for Ukraine, with the US involved in providing them.
The US leader, speaking in the White House in the last few moments, says: “There’ll be a lot of, there’ll be a lot of help when it comes to security. There’s going to be a lot of help. It’s going to be good.
“They [Europe] are, first line of defence because they’re there, but we’re going to help them out also. We’ll be involved when it comes.”
Trump didn’t say whether that would involve US troops.
But this seems a shift from Trump’s previous position.
Later in the news conference, Trump says the US will provide “very good protection” for Ukraine.
Explaining how no decisions had been made on Ukraine’s NATO membership, he adds: “We will give them very good protection, very good security. That’s part of it.
“And the people that are waiting for us [European and NATO leaders]… I think they’re very like-minded. They want to help out.”
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