Trump, Zelenskyy, and European leaders meet to discuss next steps in ending the war in Ukraine: In their words

On Monday, President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House to discuss the next steps in ending the war in Ukraine that Russia started three and a half years ago. The meetings came three days after Trump met one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The Alaska summit produced no breakthrough agreement, although Trump characterized it as a good meeting that can be built upon. Perhaps the most significant development arising from the summit is Putin's alleged willingness to allow the United States and European nations to fashion a NATO-style security arrangement for Ukraine's future defense as part of a final peace deal. Putin has not confirmed this but White House Envoy Steve Witkoff spoke to reporters about it, and it was a major focus during Monday's meetings.

Here are quotes from Trump, Zelenskyy and some of the European leaders:

President Donald Trump

"I’m optimistic that collectively, we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine, and I actually think there won’t be. I think that’s largely overrated, but we’re going to find out, and I think that the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden. We’re going to help them, and we’re going to make it very secure. We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact. That means the war zone, the war lines."

“We will come to a resolution today, I think, on almost everything, including probably the security.”

"We're going to try and get a three-party meeting maybe as soon as we can.  And I have a feeling you (President Zelenskyy) and President Putin are going to work something out. Ultimately this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelenskyy 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. So I hope we have a good meeting and, if we can have a good meeting, I'll set up a meeting with President Putin and if you'd like, I'll go to that meeting. Not that I want to do that, but I will do that because we want to save a lot of people from dying. A lot of people are dying, and we got to save them."

"...I don't know that (a cease-fire is) necessary. You can do it through the war, but it would be--I like the ceasefire from another standpoint: you immediately stop the killing. But I believe a peace agreement at the end of all of this is something that's very attainable and it can be done in the near future. With all of the wars that I got involved in, we only have this one left. Of course, as I walk out the door, there'll probably be a new one starting and I'll get that stopped, too. But I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones. It's actually one of the most difficult and very complex. The next step would be for a trilateral meeting, and that will be worked out, and I just look forward to working and having a great result."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"I think that we had a very good conversation with President Trump, and it really was the best one--or, sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future--but it was really good, and we spoke about very sensitive points. The first one is security guarantees, and we are very happy with the President that all the leaders are here and the security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts. They have been online before yesterday and etc. So a lot of countries on the side of Ukraine, our people and all of us want to finish this war with Russia and stop this war. We spoke about it and we will speak more about security guarantees. This is very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees."

"The second point, or maybe the first humanitarian direction, were important to exchange all the prisoners, and I think that the president will help. And I was very thankful to your wife, again, Mr. President, for the letter about our abducted children and I hope that really it can be a historical role for the people to bring kids back to the families and be happy in their families. Yes, this is so, so important, and I'm happy that we discussed this track with President Trump."

NATO General-Secretary Mark Rutte

"I will be very brief. I really want to thank you, President of the United States, dear Donald, for the fact that you, as I said before, broke the deadlock, basically, with President Putin by starting that dialog; and I think it was in February that you had the first phone call. And from there, we are now where we are today. And that is, I think, if we play this well, we could end this. And we have to end this. We have to stop the killing. We have to stop the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure. It is a terrible war, so I’m really excited, and let’s make the best out of today and make sure that from today onwards, we get this thing to an end as soon as possible."

"I really want to thank you for your leadership, what you are doing, Volodymyr, but of course, also all the European colleagues, it is really crucial. And the fact that you (President Trump) have said “I’m willing to participate in the security guarantees” is a big step. It is really a breakthrough, and it makes all the difference. So also, thank you for that."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

“We’re talking about security, not just of Ukraine, we’re talking about security of Europe and the United Kingdom as well.”

“We were prepared to step up to the plate when it came to security, with you coming alongside, the US alongside, what we’ve already developed, I think we could take a really important step forward today, a historic step can come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security for Europe."

French President Emmanuel Macron

“The idea of a trilateral meeting is very important, because this is the only way to fix it. And as a follow up we would probably need a quadrilateral meeting, because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent."

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

“Something is changing — something has changed thanks to you (President Trump)

“If we want to reach peace and if we want to guarantee justice, we have to do it unitedly."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz

“Now the path is open. You opened it last Friday, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations. And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire. I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So let’s work on that, and let’s try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning."