Three days after his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, was held on Monday, August 18 of the White House on Monday, a summit in Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The main European leaders, including Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer or the president of the European Commission von der Leyen, also made the trip, with the key an “important day” and “a good result” according to them.
• A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky “in the next few days”
This is surely the flagship announcement of Monday. During the discussions among the Leaders of the White House, the idea of a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, the first since the beginning of the conflict and, while Vladimir Putin refused to meet Volodymyr Zelensky until now.
The Russian president agreed with this future meeting, which should occur in the next two weeks during a telephone interview with his American counterpart Donald Trump.
This could intervene “as quickly as possible, but for that it is necessary to agree with all the parties,” warns the president of Ukraine. The latter must happen “in the next few days.” According to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the meeting between Russian and Ukrainian presidents could take place “within two weeks.”
“We decided a bilateral meeting (Putin/Zelensky, editor’s note), then a trilateral and finally a multilateral where Europeans must be around the table,” explains Emmanuel Macron this Tuesday in LCI/TF1.
The place of a possible summit among Russian and Ukrainian leaders remains “to be determined” according to Donald Trump. Could this summit be held in Europe? “Yes, it is even more than a hypothesis. It is even the collective will,” says Emmanuel Macron.
• Donald Trump disappears to chat with Vladimir Putin
At a significant moment of this XXL meeting, the US president, Donald Trump, interrupted the exchanges about 40 minutes to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, the Kremlin teacher “Waiting (s) on guard.”
“Vladimir Putin agrees that Russia accepts security guarantees for Ukraine,” said Donald Trump.
“And this is one of the central points that we must take into account and we will consider it in this table,” he said.
• “European and American Security Guarantees”
Another announcement, for the subsequent conflict this time. Donald Trump explained that “security guarantees for Ukraine would be provided by the various European countries, in coordination with the United States.”
“There will be many, many security aids. There will be a lot of help. It will be a good thing,” he said. “They are the first line of defense because they are there, which is Europe, but we will also help them. We will be involved, the US president told the press, referring to European leaders who accompanied Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington.
“We will give them very good protection,” he promised, after recently specifying that any security guarantee must invent outside the NATO framework, to be accepted by Moscow.
“Our partners will probably decide security guarantees and there will be more and more details, because everything will be on paper and formalize (…) within a week to ten days,” said Volodymyr Zelensky at the end of the White House negotiations.
For his part, Emmanuel Macron said that “we are going to work with the United States in the content of security guarantees” for Ukraine, welcoming “American commitment.”
• Trump says Putin “wants to take an agreement”
A few moments before the beginning of the meeting between Donald Trump and European leaders, the US president told Emmanuel Macron that “he thinks that Vladimir Putin wants an agreement.”
“I think he wants to conclude an agreement for me, do you understand? Captured by CNN.
Early in the day, Donald Trump explained that it is possible to “find an agreement during the fight.” Together with his Ukrainian counterpart in the Oval office, the US president argued that he managed to arrest “six wars”, without going through the Alcillos.
• “A good result” according to participants
At the end of this summit, the Ukrainian president said he obtained “a good result” during the day and said he had his “best” discussion with Donald Trump, but estimates that “the best exchanges are future.”
From Washington, Emmanuel Macron has also appreciated an “important day that will certainly mark the course of the conflict in Ukraine”, particularly due to its “unprecedented configuration.”
For his part, Donald Trump welcomed a “very good” meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and the European heads of state and government, and also assured that he was going to “begin the preparations” of a Volodymyr Zelensky-Vladimir Putin summit.
• “Increase sanctions” in Russia if negotiations fail
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, requested “growing sanctions” against Russia if the negotiations on Ukraine failed.
“If this process was rejected, we also agree that we will have to increase the sanctions and, in any case, to have a position that press more about the Russian part,” said French president in the press in Washington.
A position that repeated on Tuesday in the social network X: “It is so clear in our mind that the pressure on Russia will have to continue while this peace has not settled,” he wrote
Kirill Dmitriev, emissary of Vladimir Putin in charge of international economic problems that had participated in the meeting in Alaska, said in their social networks “an important day of diplomacy, focused on lasting peace and not on a high temporary fire.” An encouraging signal for the end of hostilities in Ukraine?
Source: BFM TV
