WASHINGTON– European leaders praised President Donald Trump on Monday for his push to end the Ukraine-Russia war, which has culminated in plans for a peace meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Leaders from various countries in the West, including European Union President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and others joined the president in the East Room for a multilateral meeting along with Zelensky.
Zelensky spoke highly of the bilateral meeting he shared with Trump before they joined other world leaders in the East Room.
“I think that we had a very good conversation with President Trump. And it really was the best one, or sort of maybe the best one will be in the future, but it was really good,” he said.
Rutte praised Trump for opening up a line of communication with Putin months ago that has led to this opportunity.
“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 the dialogue,” Rutte said when Trump invited leaders to give remarks.
“I think it was in February that you had the first phone call, and from there we are now where we are today… I think if we play this well, we could end this, and we have to end this,” he added. “We have to stop the killing. We have to stop the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz lauded Trump for opening up a path to peace.
“I think this is extremely helpful that we are meeting and hearing that the two of you are having such a good meeting today here in Washington. The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones now,” Mertz said. “The path is open. You opened it last Friday, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations.”
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen, who struck the biggest trade deal in history with Trump last month, emphasized, “We are here to work together with you on a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”
Meloni, like Rutte, called Trump by his first name and said negotiations have entered a new phase and the situation is changing because of Trump.
“I think it is an important day, a new phase after three years and a half that we didn’t see any kind of sign from the Russian side there was willing for dialogue, so something is changing. Something has changed thanks to you,” she said.
Starmer praised Trump for his plans to establish a trilateral meeting between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.
“A trilateral meeting seems the sensible next step, so thank you for being prepared to take that forward because I think if we can ensure that that is the progress out of this meeting––both security guarantees and some sort of progress on a trilateral meeting of some sort to bring some of the difficult issues to a head, then I think today will be seen as a very important day in recent years,” Starmer said.
Macron praised Trump for organizing the summit.
“I just have to say here, everybody around this table is in favor of peace. And we work very hard and we’ve worked very hard during the past few years to have a peace which is robust and long-standing peace,” he said.
Following the East Room round table, Trump and the leaders met in the Oval Office. By the evening, Trump announced he had spoken with Putin at the conclusion of the meetings and begun arrangements for a Zelensky-Putin meeting.
“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two presidents, plus myself,” he added.
Read the full article here