President Donald Trump revealed new details Tuesday morning about his White House peace summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders, describing his push to fast-track direct negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
In an interview on Fox & Friends, Trump outlined his strategy of putting Ukrainian and Russian leadership face-to-face in hopes of accelerating a breakthrough. He said he arranged a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, while reserving a follow-up session for himself if progress is made.
“They haven’t been exactly best friends,” Trump said of Putin and Zelenskyy. “But it only matters if we get things done. It takes, in this case, two to tango.”
The former rivals’ meeting is central to a peace framework that avoids NATO membership for Ukraine while leaning heavily on European nations for future security guarantees. Trump emphasized that countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom had signaled willingness to “front-load” security efforts and even commit troops if needed, an approach he said was preferable to US boots on the ground.
“You have my assurance, and I’m President,” Trump said. “I’m just trying to stop people from being killed.”
Trump recounted an exchange with a European leader at the summit who suggested waiting “a month or two” before starting talks. Trump said he rejected the idea immediately, warning that tens of thousands of lives could be lost in that time. “You have to do it TONIGHT,” he said, adding that he phoned Putin on the spot to press forward with talks.
While acknowledging “tremendous bad blood” between Moscow and Kyiv, Trump said he was surprised at signs of improved relations between Putin and Zelenskyy. He argued that if they can make progress, a trilateral meeting involving himself could follow quickly.
The president also stressed that European nations, not the United States, must carry the weight of long-term security guarantees in the region. “They want to get back to leading their countries. They’re consumed with this far more than we are,” Trump said.
Still, he cast the summit as proof of renewed American leadership. “A year ago, they wouldn’t have come. Now, we’ve become the hottest country anywhere in the world. Everybody wants to be here.”
The White House billed the summit as the most serious step yet toward a resolution of the war since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The push for peace traces back to Alaska, where Trump held preliminary talks with Putin in Anchorage on Friday. The meeting showed the world Alaska’s unique role as America’s front line with Russia, separated by just 55 miles across the Bering Strait, and highlighted the state’s strategic importance as a natural venue for US-Russian diplomacy. From that opening round, Trump built the momentum that carried into Washington for the broader summit with Zelenskyy and European leaders.