The Trump administration has shelved its threat to impose new sanctions and "secondary" tariffs on Russia and buyers of its oil exports, respectively, as diplomatic efforts shift toward broader discussions with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy and several European leaders gathered at the White House on Monday to present a united front for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, expressing optimism that the US will extend security guarantees to Kyiv as it presses for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Trump and Zelenskiy were joined in Washington by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The immediate goal of Monday's meeting, as outlined by Trump and senior administration officials, was to arrange a trilateral summit between Trump, Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future and to hammer out the details for Western security guarantees for Kyiv to ensure Moscow doesn’t attack again.
“President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine. And this is one of the key points that we need to consider, and we’re going to be considering that at the table,” Trump said.
