US President Donald Trump said that an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine is “closer now than we have been ever,” after a phone call with European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.
Trump made the comments to the press in the White House’s Oval Office – after phoning into the summit of European leaders in Berlin, where Zelensky spent a day of talks with his German counterpart.
As per AFP, Trump told reporters that he had had “a very good conversation” with the European leaders. Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the UK were all represented at the summit.
“We had a very good discussion, things are seemingly going well but we’ve been saying that for a long time,” Trump said.
Trump’s involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine dates back to an election campaign promise to end the war in 24 hours. More recently, his administration drafted a 28-point peace plan with input from the Kremlin.
“We’re having tremendous support from European leaders, they want to get it ended also,” Trump added.
Trump’s relationship with Europe has been more fractious in recent times than this remark would suggest. The US National Security Strategy released last month accused European leaders of undermining Trump’s efforts to restore peace to Ukraine.
Trump also said that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin “recently,” and that “at this moment, Russia wants to get it ended.”
“The problem is, they all want to get it ended and then all of a sudden they won’t,” the US president continued.
“We have to get them on the same page but I think that’s working.”
Earlier on Monday, Zelensky and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed a commitment by the US to provide “Article 5-like” security guarantees for Ukraine.
However, Zelensky was far less effusive about the progress of the talks than US officials were – describing the security guarantees that officials said were “basically agreed to” as a “first draft.”
Before EU leaders joined Zelensky and Merz in Berlin, they released a statement laying out their vision of the security guarantees that would enable a peace deal – including a European-led “multinational force” operating within Ukraine’s borders.
“It is now incumbent upon Russia to show willingness to work towards a lasting peace by agreeing to President Trump’s peace plan and to demonstrate their commitment to end the fighting by agreeing to a ceasefire,” the statement adds.