Following a phone call with the White House, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced today, "I will meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on 18/8 to discuss all the details related to ending the conflict. I am very grateful for this invitation."
After his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15/8, President Trump spoke with President Zelensky and European leaders to discuss the meeting's contents. The Ukrainian President's office stated that Trump spoke with Zelensky first, then with the European leaders.
President Zelensky described his conversation with Trump as "long and substantive" and called for European allies to participate in "all stages" of the negotiations.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Berlin, Germany on 13/8. Photo: AFP |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Berlin, Germany on 13/8. Photo: AFP
Zelensky also reaffirmed his willingness to meet with both Trump and Putin. "We emphasized that key issues can be discussed at the leadership level, and a trilateral format is appropriate for this," the Ukrainian leader stated.
Axios, citing a source, reported that Trump spoke for about 90 minutes with Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and the leaders of France, Germany, Finland, Poland, Italy, and the UK.
President Trump and President Putin met for a 3-hour summit on 15/8, followed by an 11-minute joint press conference. Putin declared that he had reached an agreement with Trump and expressed hope that Ukraine and Europe would not hinder the process of ending the conflict.
Trump assessed that Washington and Moscow had made significant progress, but no agreement had been reached. In a post-summit interview, Trump suggested the Ukraine conflict would end with territorial concessions and security guarantees from the US. He also mentioned that a trilateral meeting between himself, Putin, and Zelensky was being arranged.
However, Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy advisor, later stated that a trilateral summit had not been discussed, and he did not know when Putin and Trump would meet again.
Huyen Le (According to AFP, Reuters)
