{"id":55279,"date":"2025-08-18T22:44:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T22:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/trump-and-zelensky-express-optimism-over-possible-peace-talks-with-putin\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T21:24:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:24:26","slug":"trump-and-zelensky-express-optimism-over-possible-peace-talks-with-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/trump-and-zelensky-express-optimism-over-possible-peace-talks-with-putin\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump and Zelensky express optimism over possible peace talks with Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The discussions took place at the White House in a high-stakes meeting that brought together Zelensky, Trump, and top European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was also present.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everything works out today, we\u2019ll have a trilat,\u201d Trump said, referring to potential three-way talks between himself, Zelensky, and Putin. \u201cWe\u2019re going to work with Russia, we\u2019re going to work with Ukraine.\u201d Zelensky responded positively, stating, \u201cWe are ready for trilateral. I think this is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting follows Trump\u2019s summit with Putin in Alaska last Friday. <\/p>\n

Trump has urged Zelensky to consider concessions, including abandoning Ukraine\u2019s goal of joining NATO and giving up Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. European leaders, excluded from the Alaska talks, attended Monday\u2019s session to ensure Ukraine\u2019s security and safeguard the continent from potential aggression.<\/p>\n

During the White House meeting, discussions also focused on NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, which could provide a durable framework for peace. While Putin opposes Ukraine joining NATO outright, Trump\u2019s team indicated that Russia might accept Western powers committing to defend Ukraine if attacked.<\/p>\n

Despite the high tensions surrounding the war, the atmosphere between Trump and Zelensky was calm, a contrast to their February Oval Office meeting, where Trump publicly criticised Zelensky over US military aid. <\/p>\n

Trump even complimented Zelensky on his black jacket, joking, \u201cI love it,\u201d a lighthearted moment that drew attention to the Ukrainian leader\u2019s decision to wear his signature war-leader attire rather than a formal suit. The choice of attire was a change from his previous visit in February, when he was criticised by a reporter for not wearing a formal suit and said he would wear one “after the war is finished.”<\/p>\n

Air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv as the European delegation arrived in Washington, underscoring the ongoing threat from Russian strikes that killed at least seven people overnight. <\/p>\n

Zelensky described the talks as \u201cvery serious\u201d and emphasised the need for \u201creliable and lasting peace for Ukraine and the whole of Europe,\u201d highlighting the importance of Western security guarantees.<\/p>\n

Trump said he planned to speak with Putin later on Monday, maintaining that while a ceasefire may not be necessary for negotiations, there remains a \u201cgood chance\u201d of ending the conflict that began with Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed cautious optimism on Monday about the possibility of trilateral peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising hopes for an end to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000092788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000092788,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gettyimages-2230825501logo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gettyimages-2230825501logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gettyimages-2230825501logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gettyimages-2230825501logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gettyimages-2230825501logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gettyimages-2230825501logo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000092788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55279"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55279"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}