U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, amid negotiations to finish the Russian conflict in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 18, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
On the face of it, talks on Monday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders went properly.
The U.S. and Ukrainian leaders have been pictured trying jovial and smiling collectively — a far cry from the extraordinary shouting match and public humiliation inflicted on Zelenskyy during his last trip to the White House in February.
Monday’s talks, which concerned a raft of European leaders, appeared to make progress towards ending the protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with Trump saying a gathering between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy can be organized, adopted by a trilateral assembly that he would be part of.
The most vital growth end result for Kyiv and Europe, nevertheless, was Trump’s statement that safety guarantees for Ukraine can be “provided” by European international locations in “coordination with the U.S.”
Describing that as a “major step forward,” Zelenskyy mentioned later that the package deal of safety guarantees for Ukraine — extremely coveted by Kyiv’s management and seen as a deterrent to future Russian aggression — will embrace an enormous buy of American weapons, with financing reportedly supported by Europe. The settlement can be “formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days,” he mentioned.
What safety guarantees?
As for what the safety guarantees might embrace, the element continues to be scant. Trump commented at a post-talks press convention that Europe would “take a lot of the burden” for these, however mentioned the U.S. would assist and would make it “very secure.”
In any case, safety guarantees probably imply that Europe, and the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” of nations providing to supervise a peace deal, is on the hook to satisfy what they’ve beforehand promised.
French President Emmanuel Macron hinted Tuesday that the “first security guarantee we are working on — and it is the most important — is a strong Ukrainian army, composed of several hundred thousand men, well equipped, with defense systems and higher standards.”
“The second is to have reassurance forces, the British, the French, the Germans, the Turks, and others ready to carry out these operations — not on the front line, not in a provocative way, but reassurance operations in the air, at sea, and on land. The goal is to send a strategic signal: peace in Ukraine is also our concern,” he instructed French broadcaster TF1-LCI, in feedback translated by NBC News.
Jaroslava Barbieri, analysis fellow at Chatham House, instructed CNBC Tuesday that the general temper from the talks on Monday was certainly one of “cautious optimism,” however there are many unknowns.
“However, we have to say that the Kremlin’s maximalist demands on Ukraine have not changed and so there’s still a number of uncertainties about the security guarantees, the details, who is going to be doing what, if there are any troop deployments then where will they be stationed and for how long, which countries will be contributing?” she requested.
Obstacles to peace
European leaders have voiced misgivings over the lack of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine earlier than a peace deal is negotiated, however they appear prepared to acquiesce, for now, with the finish purpose of peace and Ukraine and Europe’s safety in thoughts.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s former international minister, instructed CNBC Tuesday that Europe nonetheless gave the impression to be struggling to be heard, saying the bloc had not but discovered its power and “ability to create leverage.”
“What came out of the meeting yesterday was that Europe was asking the U.S. yesterday to continue its assistance, to ask for a ceasefire, to assist any stationing of troops, and then some of the leaders were even saying, ‘Well, some of the Ukrainian territories might be lost, but that’s a reality.’ Well, that doesn’t sound like Europe finding it’s strength,” he mentioned.
“It’s more like Europe agreeing that, ‘we are in a very weak position and we have to please President Trump as much as we can and we have nothing to put on the table’,” he famous.
What’s extra, it is unclear whether or not the Kremlin will even comply with direct talks with Zelenskyy. Putin’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Monday that Trump and Putin had mentioned “that it would be necessary to study the possibility of raising the level of representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian sides,” however that no agency resolution was made.
The proposed future summits between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy would preserve a course of in the direction of a attainable decision of the battle alive, however it could nonetheless comply with the Russian script of a no-ceasefire situation, Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, cautioned.
“Putin may already set difficult conditions for a meeting with Zelenskyy. And in a meeting with Zelenskyy, Putin’s major goal may be to pin the blame for any failure on Zelenskyy instead of agreeing to a truce or a final deal. The outcome remains very uncertain,” he famous.