Aug. 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday afternoon and signaled that the United States would give Ukraine “very good protection.”
But Trump didn’t elaborate on what that meant, beyond saying the United States will support Ukraine but stopping short of the “Article 5-like protection” floated over the weekend by White House special eenvoy Steve Witkoff.
“We’re going to be discussing it today, but we will give them very good protection, very good security. That’s part of it,” Trump said.
Trump seemed optimistic that peace could happen.
“We will come to a resolution today, I think, on almost everything, including probably the security,” Trump said in the East Room alongside Zelensky and European leaders.
Trump told Zelensky, “I have a feeling you and President [Vladimir] Putin are going to work something out. Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelensky and by the people of Ukraine working also together in agreement with President Putin. And I just think that very good things are going to come of it.”
Zelensky arrived around 1 p.m. Monday along with several EU leaders. Trump and Zelensky sat in the Oval Office, mirroring their meeting earlier this year.
This time, they avoided the dramatic shouting match that happened six months ago in the same space.
During the February exchange, Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” toward the United States and the Trump administration.
Zelensky was much more earnest during Monday’s meeting, immediately thanking Trump for his efforts to stop Russia’s war.
Vance, who was in the Oval Office, said nothing this time.
The meeting came after Trump’s Friday meeting with Putin in Alaska.
European Council leaders are scheduled to meet via videoconference Tuesday to discuss the meeting. The council’s President Antonio Costa called the conference, he announced on X Monday.
“I have convened a video conference of the members of the European Council for tomorrow at 1 p.m. CEST, for a debriefing of today’s meetings in Washington, D.C., about Ukraine,” Costa wrote. “Together with the U.S., the EU will continue working towards a lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”
European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accompanied Zelensky to Washington for the talk.
In a brief on Truth Social, Trump said Zelensky “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.”
“Remember how it started,” Trump said. “No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE.”