 "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office of the White House, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., US, on Monday. Reuters")
The White House multilateral between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a host of European leaders has ended.
This followed the summit in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Trump after the meeting said he would set up a bilateral between Zelenskyy and Putin. He said this would be followed by a trilateral between himself, Putin, and Zelenskyy.
But what happens next for Ukraine?
Let us take a closer look
Zelenskyy-Putin bilateral soon?
Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy and the European leaders was very good. He said all the parties discussed the security guarantees that would be offered to Ukraine. There are reports that the United States plans to offer Ukraine a Nato-style security guarantee. Putin himself has agreed to such a condition, according to Trump envoy Steve Witkoff.
Such a guarantee would ensure Ukraine does not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which is a red line for Russia. It would also give Kyiv peace of mind while Ensuring that other countries are not legally required to come to its defence in case of a fresh attack by Russia.
Trump said he would be making arrangements to set up a face-to-face meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. Trump said he called Putin after the gathering at the White House to explain to him what had been decided.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump said.
However, there are reports that Trump actually paused the meeting with Zelenskyy and the other European leaders to reach out to Putin. Finnish President Alexander Stubb claimed that Trump placed this call at the behest of European leaders. According to the Kremlin, the call lasted for 40 minutes.
Trump said that US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would take charge of arranging the bilateral between Putin and Zelenskyy . While there is no official timeline for the bilateral, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said it could occur within two weeks.
Trump said that bilateral would be followed by a meeting between himself, Putin and Zelenskyy. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump said. “We’re going to have a meeting. I think if everything works out well today we’ll have a trilat and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that”.
European leaders remain sceptical
However, many remain wary of Putin’s intentions. Stubb remarked after the meet, “Putin is rarely to be trusted. So now it remains to be seen whether he has the courage to come to this type of meeting. Does he have the courage to come to a trilateral meeting, or is he once again playing for time?”
President Emmanuel Macron also raised doubts about Putin. “Do I think they could be conclusive? I remain very cautious,” Macron said. “We have the American president and Ukraine who want peace… I am not convinced about Putin,” the French president said.
“I have the greatest doubts about the Russian president’s desire for peace. His ultimate goal is to take as much territory as possible, weaken Ukraine and have a Ukraine that is not viable on its own or within Russia’s sphere of influence. This is pretty obvious to everyone,” Macron said.
However, Macron praised Trump’s “optimism” about ensuring a peace deal and added “it must be taken seriously”. “If he considers he can get a deal done, this is great news and we have to do whatever we can to have a great deal,” the French president said.
Still no ceasefire
Prior to the summit between Trump and Putin, the US president had threatened Russia with consequences if it refused to accept the ceasefire. Trump, who in recent months had taken a harsher line on Putin, said he was mulling imposing tariffs on Moscow. Trump, remember, had vowed to end Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office again.
European leaders organised a phone call between themselves, Zelenskyy, Trump and Vance to ‘set the agenda’ for the talks with Putin in Alaska. After the call, they said they all agreed that getting Putin to agree to a ceasefire was Trump’s top priority.
However, no ceasefire agreement was made in Alaska. In fact, Trump seems to have changed his tune after the face-to-face with Putin. Trump during meeting at the White House call is said to have told Zelenskyy that Ukraine does not need a ceasefire and that they should go straight into negotiating a peace deal.
“I don’t know that it’s necessary,” Trump said about a ceasefire. Trump said Zelenskyy and Putin should talk “and we’ll see how that works out.”
“I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand, strategically, why one country or the other wouldn’t want it. You have a ceasefire and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild and maybe they don’t want that”, Trump said.
“In the six wars that I have settled, I haven’t had a ceasefire … So if we can do the ceasefire, great, and if we don’t do a ceasefire, because many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us, great points.”
Trump’s statement music to Moscow’s ears, Kremlin remains non-committal
This is basically towing the Kremlin’s line and is music to Moscow’s ears. Kirill Dmitriev, one of Putin’s top negotiators, called the meet in Washington as an “important day of diplomacy.” Dmitriev, who also runs Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, wrote on X, “An important day of diplomacy today with the focus on Lasting Peace not a Temporary Ceasefire.”
However, European leaders remain insistent that a ceasefire is necessary before any negotiations can take place. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said real negotiations Russia and Ukraine can only occur after a ceasefire has been called. Merz said weapons need to “fall silent” before any such meet.
“The way is open for complicated negotiations. And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire,” Merz said. “The latest from the next meeting on, I can’t imagine that the next meeting would [take] place without a ceasefire, so let’s work on that, and let’s try to put pressure on Russia,” he added.
Macron too has said a ceasefire needs to be called before any bilateral meet between Zelenskyy and Putin. Zelenskyy has agreed, in-principle, to face-to-face talks with Putin. The Ukrainian president has also said that no preconditions need to be set for such a meeting. “I confirmed, and all European leaders supported me ,that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin”, Zelenskyy said.
While Trump seems enthusiastic about the meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, Russia has remained non-committal. The Kremlin has publicly said that Putin is ‘open to’ the idea of meeting Zelenskyy. However, there are reports that Putin during the phone call with Trump said he is willing to do meet the Ukrainian leader.
Ukrainian leaders to remain sceptical. “How can you negotiate peace without a truce, without a ceasefire, when the situation on the front line is changing?” MP Oleksandr Merezhko wondered while speaking to CNN. “If the situation is changing, it’s difficult to negotiate.”
Journalist Kristina Berdynskykh added, “I have a prediction: Everything will go great at the White House. Between Zelensky and Trump. Between Trump and the Europeans. Between Zelensky, Trump, and the Europeans. And then Trump will call Putin, and everything will change a hundred times again.”
It remains to be seen what developments occur next.