Zelensky-Trump meeting live: Ukraine leader to meet Putin ‘within two weeks’ after White House talks

President Donald Trump signaled that he believes Russian president Vladimir Putin “wants to make a deal for me” while quietly speaking with French president Emmanuel Macron shortly before hosting European leaders at the White House yesterday.

While waiting for other world leaders to trickle into the East Room to discuss a security resolution for Ukraine and his recent meeting with Putin, Trump was caught on a hot mic sharing his perspective with Macron.

“I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said quietly. “I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds.”

Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Friday, their first meeting since 2019, to begin discussions about Putin coming to the peace talks table to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

President Donald Trump said he and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, discussed “the massive Worldwide problem of missing children” during her visit to the White House yesterday.

“Ursula von der Leyen, the distinguished and Highly Respected President of the European Commission, and I have been discussing the massive Worldwide problem of missing children,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last night after he, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and several other European leaders gathered for a meeting about the Russia-Ukraine war.

“This is, likewise, a big subject with my wife, Melania. It is a subject at the top of all lists, and the World will work together to solve it, hopefully bringing them home to their families!”

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of the war crimes of unlawfully deporting children and unlawfully transferring them from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

While the exact number of missing children over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war remains unclear, the Institute for the Study of War reported in March that Ukraine verified nearly 19,500 children have been deported by Russia.

But the research non-profit said: “The true figure is likely to be much higher because Russia frequently targets vulnerable children without anyone to speak for them.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked president Donald Trump and several European leaders who met at the White House today to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war, calling it a “demonstration of genuine unity.”

“I thank President Trump for the invitation and for today’s special format of our meeting. I also thank all the leaders who were with us today: Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni, Alexander Stubb, Ursula von der Leyen, Mark Rutte,” Zelensky wrote on X last night.

“Today was an important step, a demonstration of genuine unity between Europe and the United States. The leaders personally came to support Ukraine and to discuss everything that will bring us closer to real peace, to a reliable security architecture that will protect Ukraine and all of Europe. We continue our work, coordinating our steps with all allies who strive to end this war with dignity. I thank everyone who is helping,” he said.

Donald Trump broke away from his talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland plus the top representatives of Nato and the EU, to call Vladimir Putin during their multilateral summit last evening.

The Financial Times reported that Ukraine had offered Trump a European funded $100bn arms deal as part of a pact. Trump has every incentive to hold Putin’s feet to a fire and demand he get out of Ukraine – or burn.

The US could join its allies in Ukraine to defend Europe, it could back its legal demands for territorial integrity, its accession to Nato and celebrate that it is a democracy not a dictatorship. It could also make money by selling weapons and exploiting Ukraine’s vast mineral deposits.

But Trump’s call to Moscow mid-session is bad news, says Sam Kiley, world affairs editor:

Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during a phone call with Donald Trump earlier today, secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

Speaking to Fox News’s Jesse Watters on being in the room during the call between Trump and Putin, Rubio said: “ I was, I was. And in that conversation, what came from it is that the President suggested that Zelensky and Putin meet, so we’re working on that now to try to set that up for them to meet somewhere, which, again, would be unprecedented.”

“And then if that goes well, hopefully the next meeting will be a meeting between Presidents Putin, Trump, and Zelensky, where we hope to finalise a deal. We’re not there yet, but that’s what we’re aiming towards and that’s one of the things that was discussed today, is how to get to that point,” the US secretary of state said.

He added: “But just the fact that Putin is saying, sure, I’ll meet with Zelensky – that’s a big deal. I mean, I’m not saying they’re going to leave that room best friends. I’m not saying they’re going to leave that room with a peace deal. But I think the fact that people are now talking to each other, this wasn’t happening for three and a half years. This was a stalemated war of death and destruction.”

Donald Trump has said a meeting between Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin could take place within two weeks, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said after talks at the White House.

The US president has taken steps to arrange a meeting between the two as he hosted key European leaders at the White House.

“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin was also confirmed by French president Emmanuel Macron who told reporters that the participants of Monday’s talks are willing to set up a bilateral meeting between the two “in the coming days” and the trilateral meeting including Trump “by two to three weeks.”

Zelensky said the meeting with Putin should be held “without any conditions”, adding that if he starts to set conditions for the meeting, regarding a potential ceasefire or other matters, then Russia will want to set conditions, too, potentially jeopardising those talks.

“That’s why I believe that we must meet without any conditions,” he told reporters.