Yesterday, Legal Insurrection’s Mary Chastain reported that President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for three hours in Alaska on Friday. While the summit was described as “frank and substantive,” no ceasefire emerged, leaving the path forward unclear. Trump said afterward that “many, many points” had been agreed upon, but “a couple of big ones” were still unresolved. Ukrainian lawmakers reacted skeptically, warning that Putin had “bought himself more time.”
Now, both Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are pointing to Washington as the next stage of negotiations.
Zelenskyy shared the details of a lengthy call with Trump and European leaders, stressing Ukraine’s willingness to engage directly:
(Full transcript🙂
“We had a long and substantive conversation with @POTUS. We started with one-on-one talks before inviting European leaders to join us. This call lasted for more than an hour and a half, including about an hour of our bilateral conversation with President Trump.Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace. President Trump informed about his meeting with the Russian leader and the main points of their discussion. It is important that America’s strength has an impact on the development of the situation.We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia. Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war. I am grateful for the invitation.It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America. We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security. We continue to coordinate our positions with all partners. I thank everyone who is helping.”
Trump echoed those points in his own statement, emphasizing that the goal is a binding peace, not another fragile ceasefire:
Full transcript:
“A great and very successful day in Alaska! The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO. It was determined by all that 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. President Zelenskyy will be coming to D.C., the Oval Office, on Monday afternoon. If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
This sets up a dramatic follow-up in Washington. After being left out of the Alaska talks, Zelenskyy will now sit down with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday. If those discussions succeed, Trump said, he will push for a trilateral meeting with Putin. European leaders, meanwhile, are demanding firm security guarantees, Ukraine remains wary of Russian delay tactics, and Putin is trying to frame the talks as progress on his terms. The Washington meeting may be the clearest test yet of whether Trump’s high-risk diplomacy can move the war toward an actual peace.
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