White House: Trump–Zelenskyy talks unlikely to bring Putin into summit immediately

On August 18, the meeting scheduled between U.S. President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders does not necessarily have to lead to a trilateral summit involving Russia, a White House source has said.

“According to a White House representative, separately from this, the United States hopes that a trilateral meeting with Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy will take place later this week. However, the official cautioned that the White House does not necessarily expect Monday’s meeting to result in that,” the source added, Caliber.Az reports, citing US media.

The paper emphasised that working out security guarantees could take considerable time. Its source in the U.S. administration also noted that U.S. Vice President JD Vance will take part in Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

The upcoming meeting was decided to be held following Trump’s summit with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, which failed to secure a ceasefire but produced discussions on potential U.S. and European security guarantees for Ukraine, resembling NATO’s collective defence model. European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, will join Zelensky to demonstrate unified support. This show of solidarity comes after concerns that Ukraine was sidelined during the Alaska summit, which Zelenskyy did not attend, and a contentious February 2025 Oval Office meeting where Trump and Vance criticised Zelenskyy for insufficient gratitude for U.S. aid.

By Khagan Isayev