Trump briefs Zelensky, European leaders on Putin talks
Zelensky to travel to Washington for talks with US president
Sunday, 17 August 2025
BRUSSELS, Aug 16 (AFP/Reuters): US President Donald Trump spoke early Saturday with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a European Commission spokesperson said.
Trump spoke for more than an hour with Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the spokesperson said.
According to the Ukrainian presidency, Trump spoke first with Zelensky and then the other European leaders joined the call. The White House has also confirmed the call.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would travel to Washington on Monday for talks with Donald Trump, after the US president's summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin failed to bring an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine or a plan to achieve one.
He said Trump had invited him on Saturday in a phone call that lasted more than an hour and a half.They were joined after an hour by European and NATO officials, he added.
On X, he said he and Trump would "discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war", adding: "I am grateful for the invitation."
Zelensky has repeatedly said a trilateral meeting with the Russian and US leaders is crucial to finding a way to end the full-scale war launched by Russia in February 2022.
Trump this week voiced the idea of such a meeting, saying it could happen if his bilateral talks in Alaska with Putin were successful.
"Ukraine emphasises that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this," Zelensky added in his post.
It was not clear, though, what Trump would be asking of Zelensky.
Trump said on Saturday that it had been decided at the summit that the best way to end the war was to proceed directly to a peace deal and not press for an immediate ceasefire. Kyiv and its European allies, unlike Moscow, have until now insisted that negotiations must be preceded by a ceasefire.