Monday's meeting at the White House was a first step towards peace, writes US President Donald Trump in a post on the Truth Social platform. He says he is now starting to prepare a meeting between Ukraine's and Russia's presidents, Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Vladimir Putin.
Russia has not officially confirmed the information, but according to Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Putin has agreed to meet Zelenskyj within the next two weeks. The message from Merz came after Trump called Putin during the meeting with European leaders at the White House.
"After that meeting, we will have a three-party meeting, which would include the two presidents plus myself," Trump writes in the post on Truth Social.
Preparing meeting
Volodymyr Zelenskyj says he is willing to meet Putin, and is also positive to a three-party meeting, but states that he "still does not know any details".
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Trump administration is now preparing a meeting "without equal" between Putin and Zelenskyj.
We are not there yet, but that's what we're aiming for, says Rubio to Fox News.
Just the fact that Putin says: "Yes, I'll meet Zelenskyj", that's a big thing.
Whether it's true is unclear. To state-controlled Russian media, Putin's adviser Yuri Ushakov only states that Trump and Putin talked about "raising the level" of negotiations.
Arms deal?
During Monday's meeting in Washington, security guarantees for Ukraine were also discussed, intended to come into force in the event of a potential peace agreement with Russia. Details of the guarantees will be "formalized" within the next ten days, says Zelenskyj at a press conference:
Security guarantees will likely be decided by our partners. There will be more details about it.
According to information to Financial Times Ukraine is offering to buy weapons for $100 billion, financed by Europe, from the US as part of the pursuit of American guarantees.
The meeting at the White House between the European leaders and Trump comes after the US President met Putin in Alaska on Friday, to discuss a path towards peace in Ukraine.
