"Ukraine Faces Consequences and Opportunities as Trump Advocates for a Putin-Zelenskyy Summit"
In a significant development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Monday's summit at the White House with US President Donald Trump as a "major step forward" towards ending Europe's deadliest conflict in 80 years. However, the complexities and uncertainties surrounding the situation remain, as discussed by Eastern Europe correspondent Dan McLaughlin and Europe correspondent Jack Power.
The summit, attended by European leaders, as well as Zelenskiy and Trump, did not provide a clear answer about the reliability of Trump's support for Ukraine. While Trump has expressed involvement in efforts to secure concrete, legally binding, and effective security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression, the details of these guarantees remain unclear.
Trump met with both Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, D.C., earlier in August 2025, raising hopes for a possible bilateral meeting between the two leaders, which Zelenskyy has been willing to attend. However, Putin and his officials have avoided this proposal.
Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, has been actively engaging with Zelenskiy, with Zelenskyy expressing appreciation for Trump's efforts and willingness to support U.S. backing for these guarantees. Kellogg described the U.S. side as "working very, very hard" toward achieving near-term security guarantees.
However, the reliability of Trump's support is uncertain, as specifics about his potential actions or guarantees remain vague, and he has declined to discuss details of calls with Putin. The process is described as "a work in progress," indicating ongoing efforts rather than finalized commitments.
The details of potential security guarantees for Ukraine, if provided by the US, remain subject to discussion and clarification. One potentially major win for Ukraine from the summit was Trump's suggestion that the US could provide security guarantees for Ukraine in a post-war era.
The trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump has not yet occurred, as it is scheduled for the coming weeks. The summit at the White House did not reveal a straightforward path towards a peace deal in the ongoing conflict in Europe. The path towards any sort of peace deal remains difficult and unpredictable, according to McLaughlin and Power.
The conflict, which is the deadliest in 80 years, was not specified in the paragraph. The discussions at the summit were further explored by McLaughlin and Power, who joined Hugh Linehan to discuss the summit and its implications.
[1] Source: Reuters, August 2025.
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