Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said peace negotiations could be finalized with security guarantees in the next 10 days following his meeting Monday with President Trump at the White House.
“Security guarantees will probably be ‘unpacked’ by our partners, and more and more details will emerge,” Zelensky told reporters after his conversation with Trump in the Oval Office, according to Reuters. “All of this will somehow be formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days.”
The Ukrainian leader added that he was ready to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in “any format” to discuss bringing an end to the more than three-years-long war.
Zelensky, after Trump’s bilateral summit with Putin last week in Alaska, noted that officials agreed to a follow-up trilateral that would include all three world leaders as they press toward a ceasefire in Eastern Europe.
However, the Ukrainian leader said he wants to meet with his Russian counterpart one-on-one before group negotiations convene.
“We are ready for any formats at the level of leaders, because only at the level of leaders can we resolve all those complex, painful issues,” Zelensky said. “At least for us, they are important and painful.”
“Therefore, I confirmed — and all European leaders supported me — that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin, and after that, we expect a trilateral meeting,” he added.
Zelensky also highlighted that potential security guarantees would include the release of all Ukrainians captured amid the war, which began with Russia’s invasion in 2022.
“We discussed security guarantees,” the Ukrainian leader wrote in a Monday post on social platform X. “This is a key issue, a starting point towards ending the war. We appreciate the important signal from the United States regarding its readiness to support and be part of these guarantees.”
“A lot of attention today was given to the return of our children, to the release of prisoners of war and civilians held by Russia,” he continued. “We agreed to work on this.”
The White House said the issue of children being held captive has been weighing heavily on the mind of first lady Melania Trump.
“Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or a magnificent city-center. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger,” she wrote in a letter dated Aug. 15 she gave to Putin at Friday’s Alaska summit.
“As parents, it is our duty to nurture the next generation’s hope. As leaders, the responsibility to sustain our children extends beyond the comfort of a few,” she continued. “Undeniably, we must strive to paint a dignity-filled world for all – so that every soul may wake to peace, and so that the future itself is perfectly guarded.”
European leaders, who also met with Trump on Monday, reupped their commitment to supporting Ukraine following the president’s summit with Putin. The leaders stressed that security guarantees were necessary in any ceasefire negotiations.
In a hot mic moment, speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump suggested Putin was ready “to make a deal.”
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