Donald Trump welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, and both have talked up the chances of a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Keir Starmer and other European leaders were also there for talks about ending the war in Ukraine. Follow live below.
Tuesday 19 August 2025 02:03, UK
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French president, Emmanuel Macron, joined other European leaders in speaking after discussions at the White House finished.
He said Donald Trump is confident that Ukraine and Russia can agree a peace deal, but if the process is met by refusal from Russia, sanctions should be increased.
He pointed out that Trump has already imposed tariffs on India for buying Russian energy, according to Agence France-Presse
The French president added that he is “not convinced Russia wants peace” and voiced support for a ceasefire as a prerequisite to any direct talks with Russia.
Russia has called the White House meetings an “important day of diplomacy”.
In the first comments from Moscow since the meetings concluded, Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said: “An important day of diplomacy today with the focus on lasting peace not a temporary ceasefire.”
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was Vladimir Putin who suggested a bilateral meeting between the two leaders, followed by one including the US.
Donald Trump also said Putin would accept agreed security guarantees, but we have yet to hear from the Russian president himself.
We have just heard from Sir Keir Starmer, who said there was a “sense of unity” at the White House meeting between the seven European leaders, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He said there were “two material outcomes” of the discussions.
The first, a confirmation that the coalition of willing – a group of 31 countries that have pledged to help strengthen Ukraine – will work with the US on security guarantees.
He told Sky’s Sam Coates: “I always said we would need a US backstop, so I am really pleased we are coordinating on a common understanding, this is an Article 5-like agreement.
“We have already instructed our teams to start tomorrow on setting out the detail with the view to complete this piece of work in a very short period of time.”
Starmer defined Article 5 as a “lasting deal, that is enforced if necessary” and if breached by Putin will have consequences.
The second, that a bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy will take place, followed by a trilateral meeting, where Trump will join.
“On some of these issues, whether it is territory, the exchange of prisoners or the very serious issue of the return of the children, it is clear that Ukraine must be at the table,” Starmer said.
“We have made real progress today.”
We have heard a lot about what was discussed during talks at the White House, but NATO secretary general Mark Rutte has said the topic of troops on the ground in Ukraine was “not discussed at all”.
Speaking to Fox News, he said more details on US security guarantees will be discussed more over the next few days, but it remains unknown precisely what these guarantees will look like.
“It’s a breakthrough that the US will get involved,” Rutte said, without going into further detail.
We’ve just heard from Finland’s Alexander Stubb – see our previous post – and now we’re hearing from Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian leader says he’s ready to meet Vladimir Putin in any format.
He also says that it was Putin who suggested a bilateral Ukraine-Russia meeting followed by a trilateral meeting involving the US.
This raises questions because before his call with Putin, Trump was saying a trilateral meeting would be next but afterwards he said it would only take place following a meeting between Ukraine and Russia.
Zelenskyy adds that he discussed security guarantees with Trump and Europe today and says he received important signals from the US on the guarantees.
The details of such security guarantees, Zelenskyy says, will be worked out within 10 days.
The US offered to have the trilateral meeting as soon as possible, Zelenskyy goes on to say.
Some of this we heard earlier today, during Zelenskyy’s remarks in the White House.
“Ukraine will never stop on the path to peace, and we are ready for any format [of meeting],” Zelenskyy says.
He has now finished speaking.
Finland’s Alexander Stubb is the latest European leader to speak after the meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy and other leaders finished at the White House.
Describing talks as “constructive” the president said details of any US security guarantees will be “ironed out in the next week or so”.
On a potential meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, Stubb said it is a waiting game to see if the Russian leader “has the courage” to attend.
“He cannot be trusted,” Stubb said.
“I’m most sceptical over Putin’s commitment to this process.
“Within a week, we could get something more concrete on US security guarantees, followed by the bilateral [meeting], hopefully within a few weeks.”
NATO chief Mark Rutte has left the White House.
The secretary general, who famously called Donald Trump “daddy,” was just pictured leaving now.
Germany’s chancellor is now holding a press conference following the earlier meeting between European leaders and Donald Trump.
Friedrich Merz says: “There’s a feeling that these are decisive days for Ukraine.”
He also adds that Trump agrees a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy should happen within two weeks.
He adds that expectations today were not just met but exceeded.
While Trump has posted on social media, Merz is the first leader to speak following the meeting.
He goes on to say that he’s not sure Putin will have the courage to come a bilateral summit with Zelenskyy – something Trump said would be the next step, see our 23.06 post for more.
Merz also welcomes Trumps announcement on possible security guarantees and says all of Europe needs to take part in them.
Our US correspondent Mark Stone says unexpected progress has been made in the White House this evening – but details on security guarantees for Ukraine are direly needed.
Amid the flux of meetings being interrupted and resuming, Stone describes the situation as “fluid” – we’re still waiting to confirm if we’ll hear from more leaders tonight.
“At the beginning of the day, European diplomats, British diplomats among them, were telling me that they saw today as part of the process, they didn’t see it as being some sort of a conclusive moment,” Stone tells us.
He goes on: “I think where we are now, I think they will see things as having developed, perhaps more than they thought they would.
“We do not know what the details of the security guarantees that the Americans seem to be offering, but the fact that at the end of of this extraordinary day, there is talk of a of a bilateral between the two, the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, and then a trilateral meeting that’s more, I think, than we expected was going to happen at the beginning of the day.”
Watch Stone’s full breakdown of all the latest development here…
Today’s meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump was billed as vital in possibly bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine.
One key aspect of how things may go, was, perhaps unexpectedly, the Ukrainian leader’s attire.
Watch here to find out why Zelenskyy’s suit (or lack thereof) mattered so much…
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