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European Leaders Speak on Ukraine at Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting in Washington
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![Photo of Liubava Petriv]( "Photo of Liubava Petriv")
On August 18, after their bilateral talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump met with European leaders in Washington, D.C., in a show of support for Ukraine and efforts toward lasting peace in Europe.
The meeting brought together leaders from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, and the European Commission, all emphasizing the need for security guarantees and an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Seated around a large table, the leaders addressed President Trump directly, in a format similar to recent White House Cabinet meetings.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte emphasized the urgent need to stop the war: “We have to stop the killing. We have to stop the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure. This is a terrible war.” He also thanked Trump for helping to “break the deadlock.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed cooperation toward lasting peace: “We are here to work together with you on a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, to stop the killing. Every single child has to go back to its family.” She also referenced “Article 5-like security guarantees” for Ukraine.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz highlighted the importance of a ceasefire in future negotiations: “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. Let’s work on that and put pressure on Russia.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni focused on long-term security: “We will talk about many important topics. The first one is security guarantees, how to be sure that it won’t happen again, which is the precondition of every kind of peace.” Meloni also referenced NATO’s Article 5.
French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized collaborative solutions: “We’ve worked very hard during the past few years to have a peace, which is robust and long-standing. The idea of a trilateral meeting is very important because this is the only way to fix it. Everyone around this table wants peace.”
“As a follow up, we would need the quadrilateral meeting, because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent,” Macron said, according to a press pool transcript of the meeting. “This is why we are all united here with Ukraine.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer framed the discussion in terms of broader European security: “We’re talking about security, not just of Ukraine, we’re talking about the security of Europe and the United Kingdom as well.”
“I think we could take a really important step forward today, a historic step actually, to come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe,” he said.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb reflected on historical parallels and the symbolic nature of the meeting: “The fact that we’re around this table today is very much symbolic—it’s Team Europe and Team United States helping Ukraine. We found a solution in 1944, and I’m confident we’ll be able to find a solution in 2025 to end Russia’s war of aggression and achieve a lasting, just peace.”
After concluding the public portion of the meeting, the leaders proceeded to continue discussions behind closed doors.
President Trump expressed cautious optimism about the coming weeks: “I think that Putin wants to find an answer too. In a week or two, we’re going to know whether we’ll solve this or if the fighting will continue.”
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with European leaders ahead of talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
