TrumpZelenskyy live updates: Trump says PutinZelenskyy meeting being planned KEVIN SHALVEY, ALEXANDRA HUTZLER and MEREDITH DELISOAugust 19, 2025 at 1:42 AM President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House for a highstakes meeting as the U.S.
- - Trump-Zelenskyy live updates: Trump says Putin-Zelenskyy meeting being planned
KEVIN SHALVEY, ALEXANDRA HUTZLER and MEREDITH DELISOAugust 19, 2025 at 1:42 AM
President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House for a high-stakes meeting as the U.S. president pushed for a deal to end Moscow's war on its neighbor. A host of European leaders joined the pair.
The day of meetings follows Trump's Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska -- and it comes about six months after an explosive Oval Office meeting between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Latest Developments
Aug 18, 7:42 PMPutin-Zelenskyy meeting to take place within 2 weeks, Germany says
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is possible within the next two weeks, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was among the European leaders who attended Monday's talks at the White House. The location has not yet been agreed upon, according to Merz. "We do not know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit. That is why persuasion is needed," he said at a press briefing.
Alexander Drago/Reuters - PHOTO: President Donald Trump meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders at the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
Merz said his expectations for the White House talks on Monday were exceeded. "I won't hide the fact that I wasn't sure that today would turn out this way. It could have gone differently. But my expectations have not only been met, they have been exceeded as far as today's meeting is concerned," he said.
Aug 18, 6:54 PMPutin-Zelenskyy meeting would be a marker of potential progress
After meeting with European leaders and Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday, Trump held a call with Putin and indicated he had made progress toward one of his major goals: orchestrating a three-way meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and himself. "I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy," Trump said in a social media post, adding that after that engagement, he would join the two for trilateral talks. "This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years," Trump added.
Aaron Schwartz/Pool/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: President Donald Trump leads Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders through the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
The Kremlin issued its own readout of the call, saying both Trump and Putin have expressed "support for the continuation of direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations." "The idea was discussed that the level of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides should be increased. This refers to the representatives who participate in the aforementioned direct negotiations," according to a statement issued by a top Putin aide, which made no mention of a one-on-one between Putin and Zelenskyy. If Trump can indeed convince Putin to meet head-to-head with Zelenskyy, it would be a marker of potential progress — one that has eluded the Trump administration for months. U.S. officials worked to bring Putin and Zelenskyy together in May for a high-level meeting hosted in Turkey. Putin ultimately did not attend the talks, sending a lower-level delegation of Russian diplomats in his place. Later that month, the Kremlin also rebuffed an attempt to coordinate a meeting between the leaders at the Vatican. The Kremlin has also engaged in multiple apparent stall tactics to push off direct engagement with Ukraine, such as insisting that both sides produce a document detailing their conditions for peace and then taking weeks to produce said document—only for it to list the same maximalist demands that Ukraine and the West have repeatedly dismissed. On Monday, Zelenskyy again expressed a willingness to meet with Putin in a three-way format. "We are ready for the trilateral meeting," he said. -ABC News' Shannon Kingston
Aug 18, 6:33 PMTrump says he has begun arrangements for Putin-Zelenskyy meeting
Following Monday's meetings, President Trump said he called Vladimir Putin and has begun arrangements for a meeting "at a location to be determined" between the Russian president and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself," he said in a post on social media. "Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years."
Reuters/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, August 12, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London, August 14, 2025 and President Donald Trump in Washington, August 14, 2025.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine, Trump said. Putin's top aide said following the call that Putin and Trump "expressed their support for the continuation of direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations." "In this regard, in particular, the idea was discussed that the level of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides should be increased," the aide, Yuri Ushakov, said, though did not specify who that might be.
Aug 18, 5:06 PMKremlin rules out security guarantees that involve NATO military contingent
Maria Zakharova, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, on Monday ruled out any NATO security guarantees for Ukraine -- despite Steve Witkoff's statement that this is something Vladimir Putin has agreed to. "Any scenarios involving a NATO military contingent in Ukraine are unacceptable and could lead to an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict," Zakharova said.Witkoff told CNN over the weekend that Russia agreed to "Article 5-like" protection for Ukraine, and several European leaders pressed Trump to model security guarantees for Ukraine off the NATO alliance. Trump on Monday said, "President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine."
Aug 18, 3:56 PMEuropean leaders stress importance of security guarantees for Ukraine
A repeated refrain from European leaders during remarks ahead of their meeting was the need for security guarantees for Ukraine."We will talk about many important topics. The first one is security guarantees, how to be sure that it won't happen again, which is the precondition of every kind of peace," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.French President Emmanuel Macron said that "when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent. And this is why we are all united here with Ukraine on this matter."That point was echoed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said he believes "with the right approach" they can make "real progress, particularly on the security guarantees."Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his remarks that it was "very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees."
Win McNamee/Getty Images - PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump pose for a family photo with European leaders in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
For his part, President Trump said at the table that he believed they will all "come to a resolution today, I think, on almost everything, including probably the security."
Aug 18, 3:36 PMFinland's president says more progress in past 2 weeks than 3 1/2 years
In his remarks at the table with other European leaders, Finnish President Alexander Stubb expressed optimism at ending the war, saying, "I think in the past two weeks, we've probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past 3 1/2 years."He said the gathering of the leaders at the White House is "very much symbolic in the sense that it's team Europe and United States helping Ukraine.""And the progress that we're looking out of this meeting is about the security guarantees, which are a big part of this," he said. To those in the media wondering why he is at the table, Stubb referenced Finland's "long border" with Russia and its own past conflicts, including the Continuation War.
Aaron Schwartz/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: President Donald Trump during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House in Washington, Aug. 18, 2025.
"If I look at the silver lining of where we stand right now, we found a solution in 1944, and I'm sure that we'll be able to find a solution in 2025 to end Russia's war of aggression, find and get a lasting and just peace," he said. "The situation is very difficult, but that's why we're here."
Aug 18, 3:27 PMTrump says in a week or 2, 'we will know if we can solve this'
President Donald Trump, wrapping up a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, said he believed they'd know soon if this conflict can be brought to a close."In a certain period of time, not very far from now, a week or two weeks, we're going to know whether or not we're going to solve this or is this horrible fighting going to continue," Trump said. "We'll do the best to get it ended."
Alexander Drago/Reuters - PHOTO: President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Finland's President Alexander Stubb walk to a group photo during a meeting at the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
Aug 18, 3:25 PMChancellor of Germany: 'We all would like to see a ceasefire'
As President Donald Trump has downplayed the need for a ceasefire, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz emphasized the desire for one during his remarks in the White House with other European leaders."To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire," Merz said. "I can't imagine that the next meeting would took place without a ceasefire.">Merz called on the leaders to work on obtaining a ceasefire and to "try to put pressure on Russia."
Win McNamee/Getty Images - PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump poses for a family photo with European leaders in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
"Because the credibility of these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from next step on. So I would like to emphasize this aspect and would like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting wherever it takes place," he said.
Aug 18, 3:15 PMSecurity guarantees a 'breakthrough': NATO secretary-general
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed optimism at ending the war during remarks in the White House."Let's make the best out of today and make sure that from today onwards, we get this thing to an end as soon as possible," he said.Addressing Trump, Rutte said, "The fact that you have said I'm willing to participate in security guarantees is a big step, is really a breakthrough, and it makes all the difference."
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: European leaders pose with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
Aug 18, 3:11 PMZelenskyy: 'Very good conversation' on security guarantees, freeing prisoners
"I think we had a very good conversation with President Trump," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the table with European leaders after his Oval Office meeting with the president. Trump quickly agreed that it was "very good.""And it really was the best one, or sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future," Zelenskyy said.The Ukrainian president said they spoke about several key points, including security guarantees and freeing prisoners held by Russia."We spoke about it and we will speak more about security guarantees," Zelenskyy said. "This is very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees."
Aaron Schwartz/Pool/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
Trump said he believed Russia would soon release prisoners -- maybe "immediately."
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