During their second Oval Office meeting this year, US President Donald Trump stated that the United States would be open to backing European efforts to enforce any potential peace agreement in Ukraine.
Here are the top ten updates:
1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders that security guarantees for Kyiv will likely be worked out within 10 days, Reuters reported.
2. “Security guarantees will probably be ‘unpacked’ by our partners, and more and more details will emerge. All of this will somehow be formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days,” Zelenskiy said at a broadcast press briefing after his meetings.
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3. “I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump said in a social media post soon after lengthy talks with Zelensky and the European leaders ended. “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.”
4. Trump said, “You’ll see that President Putin really would want to do something also… When we meet up, I think you will see some really positive moves… We will set that up after today’s meeting…”
5. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “We had a very good conversation with President Trump. It was a good one but the best is yet to come. We spoke about very sensitive points, the first one being security guarantees… The security in Ukraine depends on the United States, on you, and those leaders who are with us… All of us want to finish this war… It is very important that the US gives such strong signals and is ready for security guarantees… I want to thank the First Lady for that letter for our abducted children… All the sensitive things and everything else will be discussed in the trilateral meeting and President Trump will try to organise this meeting. Ukraine will be happy if you are part of the meeting… We need our people back…”
6. French President Emmanuel Macron called Monday for stepping up sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not move forward on peace with Ukraine, AFP reported”President Trump believes we can get an agreement and believes that President Putin also wants a peace accord,” Macron told reporters. “But if in the end this process is met by refusal, we are also ready to say that we need to increase sanctions.”
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7. The Finnish President said on Monday in Washington that his Russian counterpart was not trustworthy, after meeting at the White House with the US President, Ukrainian head of state and European leaders, AFP reported.
8. “Putin is rarely to be trusted. So now it remains to be seen whether he has the courage to come to this type of meeting. Does he have the courage to come to a trilateral meeting, or is he once again playing for time?” the Finnish President Alexander Stubb told Finnish reporters.
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9. “The Alaska Summit made me realise that while difficult, peace is within reach. In a very significant step, President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine, and this is one of the key points that we need to consider… We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact, that is, the war zone,” said Trump.
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10. US President added, “We are going to try a get a three-party meeting with President Putin and President Zelensky, as soon as we can… Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine…The six or so wars that we have stopped, we haven’t had a ceasefire, and I don’t know it’s necessary, and you can do it through the war… I believe that a peace agreement at the end of all this is something that is attainable and it could be done in the near future…”
(With inputs from agencies)
