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Putin and Zelensky could meet within just two weeks as European leaders hail ‘breakthrough’ in Washington
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Donald Trump is trying to arrange a meeting between Ukraine‘s president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin within the next two weeks, after promising Kyiv US security support.
The US president has taken steps to arrange a meeting between the two as he hosted key European leaders at the White House, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said.
“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. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump told reporters that Ukraine would get “a lot of help” when it comes to security, adding “we’ll help them out”.
Zelensky 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 Ukraine offered to buy about $90 billion worth of US weapons.
Here are some statements from the Canadian, Finnish and Norwegian foreign ministers in which they reaffirm their commitments to Ukraine.
Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand said that Canada would be there for Ukraine in both the short and long term.
Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen said that only Ukraine could decide its own borders, adding that the country had started work with the Coalition of the Willing on sending troops to Ukraine, without any major decisions yet.
Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide added that peace in Ukraine would have to be just and lasting in order for it to be real peace.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that any meeting on Ukraine involving national leaders must be thoroughly prepared.
Lavrov’s remarks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met and expressed hope that their discussions could pave the way for three-way talks involving Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on state TV’s Rossiya-24 channel, Lavrov said Russia remained committed to efforts aimed at resolving the conflict in Ukraine, including both bilateral and trilateral formats.
“The president has reiterated this many times,” Lavrov said. “The key point is that these formats are not pursued for the sake of media coverage or evening broadcasts.”
He added: “Any contacts involving national leaders must be prepared with the utmost thoroughness”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that it was clear at Friday’s U.S.-Russia Alaska summit that US president Donald Trump and his team sincerely wanted to achieve a long-term and sustainable peace in Ukraine.
Lavrov said the atmosphere at the Putin-Trump summit was “very good.”
“It was clear that the head of the United States and his team, firstly, sincerely want to achieve a result that will be long-term, sustainable, reliable,” Lavrov told the Rossiya 24 state television channel.
Lavrov contrasted what he said was the constructive U.S. position to that of Europe, some of whose leaders took part in an extraordinary summit at the White House on Monday with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss Ukraine.
Lavrov said “the Europeans had… insisted at every turn only on a cease-fire, and that after that they would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine.”
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked US first lady Melania Trump for her “attention to one of the most painful and difficult issues of this war – the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia.
He continued: “We deeply appreciate her compassion and her letter to Putin. This issue lies at the heart of the war’s humanitarian tragedy – our children, broken families, the pain of separation.
“At least 20,000 children were taken. I asked President Trump to pass along a letter of gratitude from Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, to Melania. Her voice matters, and her care gives strength to this cause.
“We are working tirelessly to bring every child home. The same applies for our prisoners of war and civilians held in Russia for years, some since 2014, in very bad conditions.
“Thousands of people still need to be freed – and this is a part of making peace. We will work to negotiate all-for-all prisoners of war exchange, and we are grateful to have strong friends who help.”
While critics have at times drawn attention to the first lady’s perceived passivity in her role, she has reportedly influenced the President’s policy shift on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Trump was quoted saying “I go home, I tell the first lady: ‘I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’”
“She said: ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.'”
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the country is working to cement security guarantees with other countries ahead of a debrief with the coalition of the willing today.
He said in a statement on social media: “Yesterday, important talks took place in Washington with the President of the United States and European leaders. This was truly a significant step toward ending the war and ensuring the security of Ukraine and our people.
“We are already working on the concrete content of the security guarantees.
“Today, we continue coordination at the level of leaders. There will be discussions, and we are preparing the relevant formats. We will also continue working tomorrow. National security advisors are also in constant contact now.
“There will be security guarantees. I thank all our partners for their determination and support. Ukraine feels this strength.
“And we will do everything to make the path to peace a reality – through partnership, through security guarantees, and through the courage of the Ukrainian people.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House on Monday that was a far-cry from the shouting match which erupted in February.
The Ukrainian president was joined by senior European leaders for the meeting with Trump, which came days after the US president held a landmark summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
And despite positive sounds emerging from world leaders following Monday’s summit, there were few details provided by Washington about the US security guarantees that are crucial to a future peace deal.
Here, Alex Croft goes through the key takeaways from Monday’s White House summit.
French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a meeting of Ukraine’s coalition of the willing later on Tuesday following talks in Washington, the French president’s office said.
The countries will work on security guarantees for Ukraine, added Macron’s Elysee office.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz will also attend the discussion.
Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo has said that it’s too early to say what role Finaldn can play in security guarantees to Ukraine ahead of ‘coalition of the willing’ discussions later today.
“It was a very important step, now we are going forward with discussions on security guarantees for Ukraine”, Orpo said.
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