President Donald Trump interrupted his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to call their Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The call with Putin was an unexpected twist in the meeting with Zelensky and seven European leaders rushing to the White House, three days after Trump’s summit with Putin in Alaska.

Trump spoke with Putin for 40 minutes and they began making plans for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents.

‘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 Zelenskyy,’ wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform on Monday evening.

‘After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.’

Shortly afterward, the White House said Trump’s meeting with Zelensky and European leaders in the East Room had ended.

The meeting with all the leaders resumed in the Oval Office in a ‘leaders only’ format, said Zelensky’s spokesperson, Serhiy Nykyforov.

Trump warmly received Zelensky on Monday nearly six months after their discussion in the very same seats descended into a shouting match.

Zelensky said he was open to a trilateral meeting.

‘We need to stop this war to stop Russia and we need support American and European partners,’ he said.

‘We are ready for trilateral, as the president said. It’s a good signal about trilateral. I think this is very good.’

While Trump and Zelensky had a cordial meeting even sprinkled with some laughs, the US president announced he would speak to Putin immediately afterward.

‘He is expecting my call when we’re finished with this meeting,’ said Trump.

‘We may or may not have a trilat. If we don’t have a trilat, then the fighting continues, and if we do, we have a good chance – I think if we have a trilat, there’s a good chance of maybe ending it.’

Zelensky wore a black combat suit without a tie to meet for his first Oval Office meeting with Trump since their disastrous press conference in late February.

The presidents shook hands outside of the White House and as reporters shouted questions, Trump said of Ukrainians: ‘We love them.’

Trump cut off a question about Russia killing civilians and said, ‘Thank you so much everybody’, then allowed Zelensky to walk inside first.

Zelensky and seven European leaders visited the White House three days after Trump’s summit with Putin in Alaska.

Trump walked alongside Zelensky to take a family photo, which drew few smiles from the leaders gathered for the serious issue. Trump and Zelensky stood next to each other.

The US president then hosted the leaders in the East Room. He said he is ‘optimistic’ they can reach to an agreement to ‘deter any future aggression against Ukraine’.

Trump added that they would talk about ‘the possible exchanges of territory’.

Zelensky told the leaders: ‘I think that we had a very good conversation with President Trump. We spoke about very sensitive points.’

Notably, he also said to Trump, ‘Thank you for the map, by the way,’ suggesting that land swaps are being considered.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: ‘The fact that you have said “I am willing to participate in the security guarantees” is a big step, it’s really a breakthrough, and it makes all the difference. So also thank you for that.’

French President Emmanuel Macron said that ‘everyone around this table wants peace’.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he could not ‘imagine the next meeting will take place without a ceasefire’.

Trump had said that six other wars he negotiated to end did not include ceasefires.

‘If we can get a ceasefire, great,’ the US president said.

Trump ended the meeting with the leaders by saying that it could be possible to reach a peace deal soon, but that the effort could also fall through.

Amid the meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement opposing a NATO troops deployment in Ukraine as part of security guarantees.

‘We reaffirm our repeatedly stated position of categorical rejection of any scenarios involving the presence of a military contingent from NATO countries in Ukraine,’ it read.

The statement also criticised the UK for pushing the idea.

In opening remarks in the Oval Office before his formal meeting with Zelensky, Trump said ‘it’s an honour to have the president of Ukraine with us’.

‘We had a good meeting just a while ago with the president of Russia,’ he said.

‘Today’s meeting is very important.’

Reporter Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice, who asked Zelensky about his more casual military sweatshirt during the last Oval Office meeting, complimented the Ukrainian president on Monday.

‘You look fabulous in that suit,’ said Glenn.

Trump quipped: ‘I said the same thing. That’s the same one that attacked you last time.’

Zelensky told Glenn: ‘You’re in the same suit. I changed, you have not.’

The comment prompted laughter in the room.

Trump also told Zelensky, ‘Look, I like it!’

Zelensky replied: ‘It’s the best I have.’

Zelensky presented a letter to Trump from his wife to First Lady Melania Trump, who wrote to him urging a stop to the killings.

‘My wife, first lady of Ukraine, she gave the letter. It’s not to you – to your wife,’ Zelensky said, setting off more laughs.

Asked what security guarantees Zelensky is seeking, he replied: ‘Everything.’

Trump did not rule out sending American troops to Ukraine to ensure Ukraine’s security. He said it would be a topic of discussion and he could have an update on the matter later in the day.

Before arriving at the White House, Zelensky shared a video of himself greeting the European leaders at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington. He wore a black suit jacket over a black shirt and no tie, nevertheless dressing more formally than his last visit to the Oval Office when he wore a military sweatshirt from his country.

‘Our main goal is a reliable and lasting peace for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe,’ he wrote on X.

‘And it is important that the momentum of all our meetings lead to precisely this result. We understand that we shouldn’t expect Putin to voluntarily abandon aggression and new attempts at conquest…

‘Ukraine is ready for a real truce and for establishing a new security architecture. We need peace.’

Seven European leaders rushed to fly to Washington, DC, to support Zelensky in the high-stakes meeting.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was among the first to arrive at the South Portico, and was greeted by the US Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley. He was followed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Merz and Finnish President Alexander Subb. Macron was the last to arrive.

They gathered for a buffet lunch before meeting with Trump.

Zelensky is expected to be weighing giving up territory to Russia in exchange for promises of its future security from the US.

The Ukrainian president has insisted that he will not give up land, but Trump’s meeting with Putin, which ended with the two apparently agreeing on several points, puts pressure on him.

Trump has leaned toward Putin’s demand that Ukraine give up some of its territory for a peace deal.

Zelensky is visiting the White House for the first time since February, when his Oval Office meeting with Trump became a shouting match with the administration asking him to leave and casting him as ungrateful.

The European delegation scrambled to make quick arrangements to travel across the Atlantic in part to avoid another breakdown in talks between Zelensky and Trump.

European leaders may have been coaching Zelensky on how to deal with Trump, who could walk out of a meeting if he does not like the Ukrainian president’s behaviour.

Ahead of arriving in the White House, Zelensky slammed Russian overnight strikes on the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia that killed 10 people and left dozens of others injured.

‘This was a demonstrative and cynical Russian strike,’ wrote Zelensky on X.

‘They are aware that a meeting is taking place today in Washington that will address the end of the war. We will have a discussion with President Trump about key issues.’

Earlier on Monday, Zelensky met with Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg.

‘We discussed the battlefield situation and our strong diplomatic capabilities – Ukraine’s and all of Europe’s together with America,’ wrote Zelensky on X.

‘Russia can only be forced into peace through strength, and President Trump has that strength.’

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Putin has spent the day calling leaders of Brazil, India, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and South Africa, on what happened at the Alaska summit.

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