Zelenskyy and Trump meet for the first time at the White House

On Friday, 28 February, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the United States on an official visit. In the evening, he met with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

The presidents are expected to negotiate and sign an intergovernmental agreement on rare earth metals and other minerals.

During the meeting, Zelenskyy showed Trump photos of Ukrainian soldiers who had returned from captivity.

«We need more than just a ceasefire. We have already done that. Putin has violated it 25 times, including during your term, Mr President», Zelenskyy said.

Donald Trump is convinced that «the parties are quite close» to reaching a settlement agreement in Ukraine.

«I hope that I will be remembered as a peacemaker. The situation could have led to World War III, because everything was moving in the wrong direction», he said.

This is the first meeting between the leaders of the United States and Ukraine after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. The last time they met was in December 2024 in Paris during the opening of Notre Dame after reconstruction.

Peace talks

Earlier, Donald Trump stated that the United States was engaged in constructive negotiations on a full-scale war with Ukraine and the Russian Federation. In particular, he expressed hope that agreements would be reached as soon as possible.

He also claimed that Washington had already made some progress in negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In addition, Donald Trump indicated that his administration had already held discussions with Moscow, but did not specify who participated in such a dialogue. Also, during his phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump never said that Europe needs a seat at the table in negotiations on Ukraine.

Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that negotiations between the United States and Russia to end the war without Kyiv's participation pose a threat to everyone.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also noted that he was ready to sit down with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin for the sake of peace, despite his hostile attitude. He also added that he did not see a ready-made peace plan from Trump, but conveyed his readiness to negotiate.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to «allocate people» to negotiate with Ukraine to end the war. At the same time, he called any such talks «illegitimate».

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine does not recognise the loss of its territories, but is ready for diplomatic solutions to return them if it becomes a NATO member.