Europe has reaffirmed its support for Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Aug. 18, according to a Truth Social post by Trump on Saturday.
“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 [Vladimir] Putin,” Trump said. The meeting was confirmed by Zelenskyy shortly after.
Zelenskyy said in an X post that “Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace.”
The latest round of diplomatic efforts follows Friday’s high-stakes meeting between Trump and Putin, which did not yield an immediate cease-fire but promised to progress the peace talks.
Putin said at a joint press conference with Trump following the three hours of direct talks between the leaders: “I expect that today’s agreement will be the starting point not only for the solution of the Ukrainian issue, but also will help us bring back business-like and pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S.”
The two leaders did not take questions and shared few details of any possible deal to end the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
Trump has displayed optimism regarding the outcome of the meeting.
“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,” he said in his latest post.
“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.”
Ukraine has been calling for an immediate cease-fire; however, Russia has shown reluctance to agree to anything but a definitive solution.
The current full-scale conflict erupted when Russian forces entered Ukrainian territory on Feb. 24, 2022.
Both Putin and Zelenskyy have affirmed Trump’s commitment to carving out a peace deal.
