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Donald Trump was all smiles as he welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Monday. The US President and his Ukrainian counterpart exchanged a handshake outside the presidential residence in DC, for the first time since the disastrous talks held at the same location in February between the pair. They posed for photos before heading inside, where the Ukrainian president thanked Mr Trump for the invite and for his efforts to "stop the killing".
During the Oval Office summit, the Republican once again refused to rule out sending American troops to Ukraine if a ceasefire is agreed. He told reporters, "When it comes to security, there’ll be a lot of help. We’re going to help them out, we’ll be involved." Russia's foreign ministry released a statement shortly before the meeting, rejecting the idea of NATO troops in Ukraine to protect peace.
The meeting appeared to go much smoother than February's, which erupted into a shouting match.
Mr Trump accused at the time Mr Zelensky of "gambling with World War 3" in a series of testy exchanges, while Mr Zelensky warned the US would "feel it in the future" if it did not continue to support Ukraine.
"Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem," Mr Trump hit back.
Speaking loudly, Mr Trump later told his Ukrainian counterpart: "You're gambling with millions of people seeing you gambling with World War Three. You're gambling with World War Three."
US Vice President JD Vance questioned why Mr Zelensky had not said thank you for US aid during the meeting.
Mr Zelensky told Mr Trump that promises of peace from Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted, noting the Russian leader’s history of broken promises. Trump said Putin hasn’t broken agreements with him.
"You’ve got to be more thankful," the US President told Mr Zelensky.
Mr Trump then chided the Ukrainian leader after Mr Vance accused him of being for debating the US president in the Oval Office in front of the American media. He questioned: "Have you ever said thank you once?"
But today, Mr Trump struck a positive tone with his Ukrainian counterpart and revealed his plans to talk to Putin after his meetings with Mr Zelensky and European leaders.
“If everything works out today, we’ll have a trilat," Trump said, referring to possible three-way talks among Zelensky, Putin and Trump. "We’re going to work with Russia, we’re going to work with Ukraine.”
Mr Zelensky also expressed openness to trilateral talks. He said: “We are ready for trilateral as president said. It’s a good signal about trilateral. I think this is very good.”
English (US) · 