Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday after a Russia-U.S. summit ended without an agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine after 3 1/2 years.
After calls early Saturday with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump posted on social media: “The best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
That statement echoed previous remarks by President Vladimir Putin that Russia is not interested in a temporary truce, and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscow’s interests into account.
Zelenskyy, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he held a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump. He thanked him for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”
It will be Zelenskyy’s first visit to the U.S. since Trump berated him publicly for being “disrespectful” during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28.
