August 18, 2025 - Trump meets Zelensky and European leaders at White House

Our live coverage of the diplomatic efforts surrounding the war in Ukraine has moved here.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House on Monday in Washington, DC.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there was “real progress” made during the high-level meetings at the White House on today, saying they yielded material outcomes on security guarantees.

One of the key outcomes was an agreement for the 30 countries dubbed the “Coalition of the Willing” to work on security guarantees for Ukraine and begin coordinated efforts with the US.

“That’s really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe, and for security in the United Kingdom,” Starmer said.

The second development was an agreement to pursue a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump took a break from his meeting with the European delegation today to phone Putin and propose the direct meeting with Zelensky, and a potential trilateral meeting also involving Trump to follow later.

“And that is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it’s territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of the children. That is something where Ukraine must be at the table,” Starmer said.

“There was real sense of unity. We made real progress today,” Starmer said.

Ukrainian rescuers work inside a destroyed residential building after an air attack in Kharkiv on Monday.

There is still a real divergence in views between Europe and Russia on the need for a ceasefire.

Following the discussions at the White House, European leaders continue to insist a ceasefire must be reached before meaningful talks between Russia and Ukraine can happen.

French President Emmanuel Macron echoed that view in comments after the meetings.

US President Donald Trump’s reversal on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine after his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin came as a shock to European leaders.

During his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on today, Trump told reporters he “didn’t do any ceasefires” in other conflicts that he’s claimed to have resolved.

Trump’s quote was later reposted on X by Kirill Dmitriev, a top Putin aide, who was with the Russian leader in Alaska. Dmitriev added in a subsequent message that today’s White House meetings were “an important day of diplomacy … with the focus on Lasting Peace not a Temporary Ceasefire.”

In an earlier post, Dmitriev accused the German’s Merz of “ignoring” Trump by continuing to push for a ceasefire.

In a photo posted by The White House on X, President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. A translator as well as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are also seen in the photo.

The White House posted a photo tonight of President Donald Trump on speaker phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin inside the Oval Office.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are in the frame, as well, sitting in chairs across from the Resolute Desk.

A translator, according to two White House officials, is also writing on a notepad across from Trump at the desk.

CNN’s Alayna Treene reported earlier that Trump spoke with Putin by phone in the Oval Office, then resumed meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders from there, according to a separate White House official.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media at the French Embassy in Washington, DC, on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the most significant outcome of talks at the White House today was the willingness of the US to work on the content of security guarantees for Ukraine.

“We have agreed on several important points that were not as clear a few days or weeks ago,” Macron said, adding that the “first and most important” was the US commitment to further develop the security plans.

Macron said the “Coalition of the Willing” that European leaders have been building since February has now grown to 30 countries, indicating widening and strengthened backing for Ukraine’s security.

Any talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should happen in a bilateral format first, before a trilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump, Macron said.

The French president added that those talks could only happen under a ceasefire, saying: “Call it a truce or a ceasefire, but we cannot hold discussions under bombs.”

Macron said he welcomed Trump’s belief in “his ability to reach an agreement” with Putin and wanted to believe that Putin wants a peace deal, but warned that if that fell through Europe needed to be prepared to increase sanctions on Russia to bring it back to the negotiating table.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Trump administration is working on setting up an “unprecedented” meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

And if that goes well, it would hopefully be followed by a meeting between President Donald Trump, Putin and Zelensky, he said.

President Donald Trump, center, participates in a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, seated at the table from center left, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and from foreground left, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, from background left, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, listen in the East Room of the White House, on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven other European leaders made a short-notice visit to the White House on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s Alaska summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There were meetings between Trump and Zelensky as well as a gathering that also involved the European leaders.

With a goal of finding a way to end the three-and-a-half year long war in Ukraine that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, here are the key takeaways from the meetings:

A potential trilateral meeting: Trump said on social media he has begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. After that bilateral meeting takes place, he said he will work on a trilateral meeting. The Ukrainian president, at a news conference, said he is ready for “any format” of a meeting with the Russian president.

Security guarantees: Zelensky said that today’s discussion included plans for Ukraine to purchase $90 billion in American weapons through European funding, as part of the country’s security guarantees. Another part of the guarantees would involve Ukraine manufacturing drones, some of which would be purchased by the US. This remains under discussion and no formal agreement has been reached. The agreement will be formalized over the next week or 10 days, he said.

Redrawing Ukrainian boundaries: Zelensky said he had a long discussion with Trump over a map displayed in the Oval Office showing Russian-captured territories in Ukraine. However, redrawing of Ukrainian territory was not discussed, the NATO chief said, as leaders said they agreed this is a matter for Zelensky to discuss at a potential trilateral meeting involving Russia.

Call to Putin: Finnish President Alexander Stubb told CNN that the European leaders “coordinated” the decision to have Trump call Putin to tell the Russian leader what was decided during the White House meeting.

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Finland's president describes mood during White House meeting with Zelensky

02:35 • Source: CNN

Finland's president describes mood during White House meeting with Zelensky

02:35

With reporting contributions from CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey, Michael Rios and Kevin Liptak.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Lafayette Park after meeting with President Donald Trump and European leaders on Monday, in Washington, DC.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the discussion with US President Donald Trump and European leaders at the White House on Monday included plans for Ukraine to purchase $90 billion in American weapons through European funding, as part of the country’s security guarantees.

He said that another part of the guarantees would involve Ukraine manufacturing drones, some of which would be purchased by the US.

Zelensky, who made his comments at a news conference following the White House meeting, noted that this remains under discussion and that no formal agreement has been reached.

The agreement will be formalized over the next week or 10 days, he said.

The Financial Times first reported the details of the proposal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a long discussion with US President Donald Trump over a map displayed in the Oval Office showing Russian-captured territories in Ukraine.

“I argued about the percentage on the map because I know this percentage very well,” he said.

However, the two leaders engaged in a “warm and meaningful conversation” about it, Zelensky said.

“It isn’t possible to say this much territory has been taken over this time. These points are important,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a meeting in the East Room of the White House, on Monday, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump said that he and the president of the European Commission discussed the issue of abducted children, a cause that is also important to his wife, First Lady Melania Trump.

Von der Leyen responded on X, saying the human cost of the Ukraine war must end.

“And that means every single Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families.I thank @POTUS for his clear commitment today to ensuring these children are reunited with their loved ones.”

Some background: At today’s summit at the White House, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came with a letter from his wife for Melania Trump, and he praised the US first lady’s letter last week to President Vladimir Putin about children suffering during the war.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, after meeting with President Donald Trump and European leaders on Monday, in Washington, DC.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia proposed a bilateral meeting with Ukraine, followed by a trilateral meeting.

In a news conference following his meetings with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Zelensky said he is ready for “any format” of a meeting with Putin. He said that he would participate in the following trilateral meeting, depending on how the first meeting goes.

Zelensky said that he does not know the details about the proposed bilateral meeting.

Zelensky said that he does not want to impose conditions on the meeting because Putin would follow with his own conditions.

“I believe unconditionally we should meet and think about the further development of this path to the end of the war,” he said.

Western leaders agreed that President Donald Trump should tell President Vladimir Putin what they had decided during their meeting at the White House, Finnish President Alexander Stubb told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday.

“It was coordinated,” he said of the decision to have Trump call Putin.

Stubb said one of their aims was to suggest a bilateral meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he said Putin agreed to.

He did not provide details on what Trump and Putin said in their call.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky within the next two weeks during a phone call with US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

The location of that meeting has not yet been determined, Merz told reporters Monday night.

He said such a summit needs to be well prepared but said he doesn’t know if Putin would “have the courage” to attend such a summit.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte participates in the meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.

Leaders gathered at the White House today did not discuss redrawing Ukrainian boundaries because that was a matter for President Volodymyr Zelensky to address at a potential trilateral meeting involving Russia, said Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“We have not discussed that today,” he told Fox News when asked about the issue. “Everybody is clear, including [US President Donald Trump], that when it comes to territory, it is the Ukrainian president who has to discuss this in the trilateral and probably more conversations after that with Vladimir Putin from Russia.”

Today, the understanding among leaders was that for any territory to be discussed, there would have to be security guarantees, Rutte said. Every country in the coalition has to agree on what these guarantees will mean, he added.

Most of the European leaders who came for a high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump have already left the White House, a White House official told CNN shortly before 7 p.m. ET.

Anyone who remains is expected to depart shortly, the official said. The White House has issued a lid, meaning Trump is not expected to be seen publicly again today.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, second left, and US President Donald Trump, center right, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.

US President Donald Trump said he is working to arrange a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin following talks today at the White House on the war in Ukraine.

Trump wrote on social media he’d discussed the plan with Putin in a phone call during his negotiations with Zelensky and several European leaders.

Trump added that after a Putin-Zelensky summit, he would then join the two leaders for a trilateral meeting.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine have yet commented on Trump’s statement.

Here’s the latest:

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer left the Oval Office through the Upper Press area of the West Wing through the doors of the Colonnade by the Rose Garden.

Asked by CNN what was agreed to, Starmer said, “Quite a lot.”

The high-stakes meetings between President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders appear to have concluded at the White House.

The White House called a lid, meaning Trump isn’t expected to appear on camera for the rest of the day.

Some European leaders were seen heading toward the exit around 6 p.m. ET after meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at the Oval Office of the White House on Monday.

The Trump White House has sought to reshape the press corps in its favor this year, and Monday showcased how well the effort has succeeded.

Veteran White House correspondents privately grumbled as a MAGA online personality dominated the Q&A during a photo op with President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump avoided any particularly tough lines of questioning; instead, he was mostly served setups for his own talking points.

“This display, especially in front of foreign leaders, is so embarrassing,” a White House correspondent remarked to CNN on condition of anonymity.

At issue: The makeup of the press “pool,” a small group of journalists and camera crews that are allowed into events like Oval Office photo ops, where there is not room for the larger press corps.

Read our analysis of the press corps’ conundrum here.

President Donald Trump said he has begun arranging a meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.

Trump wrote on social media this evening that he’d discussed the matter with Putin during a phone call amid meetings with European leaders at the White House.

“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 Zelenskyy,” Trump wrote. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.”

Trump did not specify when either sit-down would occur.

He said his meetings today centered around security guarantees for Ukraine, which “would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America.”

“Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote.