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- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said Monday that his country will work with all those involved to ensure that there is lasting peace in case an agreement is achieved to end the war in Ukraine.
“We are going to work with Ukraine, we are going to work with everyone” to ensure that peace is “very long duration,” said the US president in a brief appearance with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, before both entered a private meeting in the White House, prior to an extended meeting with numerous European leaders.
The discussion agenda focuses on the results that arose from the meeting that Trump held in Alaska last Friday with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, about the war in Ukraine, during which – according to then the US president said – a peace agreement was not achieved, but progress was made.
Trump has not publicly given details of what was discussed with Putin, but some changes in his political position after that meeting lit the alarms in Kyiv and among his European partners.
Trump, for example, had said that he would be very disappointed if Alaska's encounter did not end with a cease cessation agreement – which was a target shared by Kyiv and the Ntanal allies – and had even threatened sanctions to Moscow if he did not access.
However, Trump did not speak again of fire or sanctions after the meeting with Putin.
Moreover, Trump said Monday that a ceasefire is not necessary, thus abandoning a position shared by Ukraine and NATO countries.
“Strategically, a ceasefire could be disadvantageous for one of the parties,” said the president.
With his posture change, he has placed Washington closer to Moscow,
“That is music for the ears of Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader has insisted for a long time that only an integral peace agreement, according to the terms of Moscow, must be the first, followed by a high fire,” says Liza Fokht, a journalist of the Russian Service of the BBC.
During the start of the extended meeting at the White House, several European leaders mentioned Monday the importance of a ceasefire.
Another delicate issue has to do with the possibility that Ukraine is asked to resign parts of its territory as a condition to achieve a peace agreement.
This possibility had already been peeked by the US president last week when he referred to a possible “territorial exchange.”
In what has been widely interpreted as a reference to the possible need for Ukraine to have to do concessions, Trump published a message on Sunday in his social truth account in which he stated that “President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants, or can continue fighting.”
Security guarantees for Ukraine … and for Europe
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The great implications of this summit between Zelensky and Trump have mobilized numerous European leaders who decided at the last minute to travel to Washington to participate in conversations with Trump and Zelensky.
Among the European leaders present this Monday at the Banca house are British Prime Minister Keir Starmer; the president of France, Emmanuel Macron; Germany's chancellor Frederich Merz; the Prime Minister of Italy, Georgia Meloni; the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; and NATO general secretary Mark Rutte.
“European leaders may have rushed to Washington apparently to protect President Zelensky and prevent the February altercation from being repeated in the oval office,” says the BBC Diplomatic Correponsal of the BBC James Landale.
“But his true objective is to prevent US President Donald Trump, to threaten the long -term European security after his abrupt change of course on the best way to end the war in Ukraine.”
Citing officials of the old continent, the BBC correspondent explains that the objective of European leaders is to change the perspective of the White House about two issues: the idea that peace can be achieved simply with the fact that Ukraine gives the Donbás to Russia; And the belief that what is at stake is only the future of Ukraine and not that of all of Europe.
Trump pointed out on Monday, before entering the private meeting with Zelensky, that the United States would give “very good protection, very good security” to Ukraine, in case there is a peace agreement.
However, it is yet to determine what kind of guarantees they would grant him and if these would also serve the objective of guaranteeing the security of Europe in general, since the vision in most European countries is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only a threat to Kyiv, but for the entire continent.
Before the start of the extended meeting, Zelensky said Monday that his encounter with Trump had been one of the best to date and that they addressed several sensitive issues, including that of security guarantees.
The weekend, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said that US and his European allies could offer Ukraine a collective security commitment similar to that existing between NATO members.
“We achieved the following concession: that the United States could offer a protection similar to that of article 5, which is one of the true reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,” said Witkoff, who participated in the meeting with Putin in Alaska, in an interview with CNN.
The official said that this possibility was a substance change and that this was the first time that he had seen the Russian government access a similar possibility.
Article 5 of the NATO Charter establishes an armed attack against an NATO member will be considered as an attack against all its members.
That is one of the reasons why Ukraine has tried to become a NATO member for years and, at the same time, it is one of the reasons why Russia has blurred sharply to that possibility.
