Trump, Zelenskyy at White House greet European leaders: Live updates

Merz says that all of the leaders at the meeting would like to see a ceasefire in Ukraine — but Trump seems to quibble with the German chancellor’s assertion.

“The way is open for complicated negotiations. And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire,” Merz says.

“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 says.

Trump responds by suggesting Zelenskyy and Putin will speak “and we’ll see how that works out.”

He then adds: “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.”

Russia is opposed to a temporary ceasefire, and Trump took the same view after his recent summit with Putin in Alaska.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump says that in a “very significant step,” Putin agreed that Russia “would accept security guarantees for Ukraine.”

Trump also says that the security guarantees will be a topic of discussion at the multilateral.

“I’m optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine,” Trump says.

Zelenskyy also says that they will “speak more about security guarantees.”

— Erin Doherty

Trump said, “We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact” between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump has suggested in the past that Ukraine would have to formally cede territory to Russia, including the Crimea region.

– Dan Mangan

Trump’s multilateral with Zelenskyy and leaders of Europe is now underway, a few minutes ahead of schedule.

Trump, who opens by saying that “we’ve had a very successful day thus far,” began the meeting introducing the European leaders.

“We’re really honored that you guys came over,” Trump says.

— Erin Doherty

Trump is poised to soon take a photo with the European leaders, according to the White House schedule, which this morning said it would take place around 2:30pm ET.

At roughly 3pm ET, Trump is set to participate in a multilateral meeting with the European leaders in the East Room of the White House.

Some of the European leaders have indicated that they will make a statement after their meeting with Trump.

— Erin Doherty

“Everything,” Zelenskyy says when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office what security guarantees he’s looking for from Trump to reach a deal.

“It includes two parts,” he continues.

“It’s a lot about weapon and people and training missions and intelligence,” he says alongside Trump.

“And second, we will discuss with our partners. It depends on the big countries, on the United States, on a lot of our friends.”

— Erin Doherty

Vice President JD Vance stayed silent while Trump and Zelenskyy took questions from the press — a noticeable retreat from his aggressive posture the last time the three men were in the Oval Office.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump says he will call Putin directly following his meetings with Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

“I just spoke to President Putin indirectly, and we’re going to have a phone call right after these meetings today,” Trump says in the Oval Office.

If that leads to a trilateral meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S., then “there’s a good chance of maybe ending” the war, Trump says.

If not, “then the fighting continues.”

“But he’s he’s expecting my call when we’re finished with this meeting,” Trump says.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump reiterates that he doesn’t think there should be a ceasefire in the ongoing war.

“We can work a deal where we’re working on a peace deal while they’re fighting,” Trump says from the Oval Office.

“They have to fight, I wish they could stop, I’d like them to stop, but strategically that would be a disadvantage for one side or the other,” he continues.

Trump for weeks in the lead-up to his summit with Putin expressed the need for an urgent ceasefire.

But following his meeting with the Russian leader, he has increasingly signaled the need to “go directly to a Peace Agreement,” according to a social media post.

— Erin Doherty

Zelenskyy jabbed a reporter who had previously questioned his sartorial choices.

When the Ukraine leader eschewed a jacket and tie during his first visit to the White House in February, reporter Brian Glenn for the conservative network Real America’s Voice asked, “Why don’t you wear a suit?”

This time around, Zelenskyy appeared in the Oval wearing an all-black suit, and Glenn, in a callback, said he looked “fabulous.”

Zelenskyy shot back that Glenn was wearing the same suit again — prompting a big laugh from the room.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump bemoaned how the media treats him during his meeting with Zelenskky after conservative journalist Brian Glenn asked if the press wanted him to fail.

“I used to get great publicity. Now I get the worst publicity,” Trump said.

– Dan Mangan

Trump says that if “everything works out well” during his meeting with Zelenskyy, he would likely move towards a trilateral meeting with the Ukrainian leader and Putin.

“I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” Trump says from the Oval Office.

Zelenskyy also says that he is “ready for [a] trilateral.”

— Erin Doherty

Trump says in the Oval Office that he hopes a “lasting peace” between Ukraine and Russia can be reached “immediately.”

“I hope it doesn’t have to go on. And I think people of the whole world is going to be very happy when that’s announced,” Trump says.

— Kevin Breuninger

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and one of Putin’s top negotiators, made clear that Moscow remains opposed to any short-term ceasefire deal with Ukraine.

Dmitriev on X posted an emoji of a dove with an olive branch in its beak after the words “Lasting Peace,” contrasting that goal with a “Temporary Ceasefire.”

Trump echoed the same sentiment after his summit with Putin in Alaska.

— Kevin Breuninger

Meloni of Italy arrived at the White House a few minutes before 12:30pm ET.

The last time Meloni was at the White House was in April to discuss tariffs with the president.

— Erin Doherty

Just before arriving at the White House, Zelenskyy says European leaders are united in pursuit of a lasting peace.

“Together with the leaders of Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, the European Commission, and the NATO Secretary General, we coordinated our positions ahead of the meeting with President Trump,” he wrote on X.

“Our main goal is a reliable and lasting peace for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe,” he said.

“We understand that we shouldn’t expect Putin to voluntarily abandon aggression and new attempts at conquest. That is why pressure must work, and it must be joint pressure – from the United States and Europe, and from everyone in the world who respects the right to life and the international order.”

— Kevin Breuninger

Rutte arrived at the White House a few minutes after noon ahead of Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump.

He is the first of the European leaders to arrive at the White House.

— Erin Doherty

Vice President JD Vance, who previously chastised Zelenskyy in the Oval Office over his alleged ingratitude toward Trump, will attend the Ukraine leader’s meeting with the U.S. president, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Zelenskyy’s first visit to the White House in late February devolved into a stunning on-camera argument, with Vance accusing him of disrespect and Trump claiming that he was “gambling with World War III.”

Vance then asked Zelenskyy, “Have you said thank you once?”

Zelenskyy left the White House soon after.

— Kevin Breuninger

The European leaders accompanying Zelenskyy to the White House are expected to participate in a lunch upon their arrival.

Zelenskyy, who is poised to meet with Trump at 1:15pm ET, is meeting at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C., ahead of the meeting.

Von der Leyen and Stubb attended the meeting at the embassy, and other European leaders are likely to also join.

After the European leaders’ meeting with Trump, which is set to begin at 3pm ET, some are expected to make public remarks.

— Erin Doherty

The French president landed at Dulles Airport outside Washington, DC, at 11:26 a.m. ET.

He will head directly to the White House.

— Kevin Breuninger

Today’s meetings come three days after Trump and Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, for several hours, but ended that session without a ceasefire that the U.S. president had said he wanted.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said after that meeting on Friday.

On Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that a ceasefire was “not off the table.”

– Dan Mangan

Starmer has landed at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., for the planned meetings.

– Dan Mangan

European Council President Antonio Costa said he will convene a video conference of members of the council for Tuesday “for a debriefing of today’s meetings in Washington DC about Ukraine.”

“Together with the US, the EU will continue working towards a lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests,” Costa wrote in a tweet.

The European Council is comprised of the heads of state of European Union member nations.

– Dan Mangan

Michael O’Hanlon, foreign policy research director at the Brookings Institution, says that one question ahead of the talks is whether the U.S. can “cajole President Zelenskyy into at least a de facto swap,” giving up some land in exchange for a peace deal.

“It may not have to be something that could be legally blessed and Ukraine could still retain its claims to all the land … but acknowledge that for now and forever it’s not going to fight to get that land back,” he tells CNBC.

He says that he believes European leaders are “pragmatic enough to know that Ukraine’s not going to win back all of its land.”

— Erin Doherty

Oil prices are barely budging ahead of Trump’s talks with Zelenskyy and other European leaders, as investors look for developments on Russia’s war in Ukraine that could affect global energy flows.

That lack of movement coincides with Trump appearing to back off his threats to impose additional sanctions on Russia, even though his Alaskan summit with Putin produced no ceasefire or peace agreements.

Russia has faced U.S. sanctions on parts of its oil industry over the war. But Trump recently hit a third country, India, with higher tariffs because, he said, it continues to buy Russian oil.

Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s top trade advisors, slammed India earlier today for continuing to buy Russian crude oil, calling the Asian nation “opportunistic” in an op-ed for the Financial Times.

— Kevin Breuninger

UK Prime Minister Starmer posted a video on X from his plane explaining his reasons for flying to Washington to meet with Trump and Zelensky.

“This war in Ukraine’s been going on a really long time now, I mean, three-plus years. Hugely impacted the Ukrainians, who have suffered hugely, ” Starmer said.

“But it’s also impacted Europe. It’s impacted every single family and community in the United Kingdom, and so everybody wants it to end, not the least the Ukrainians,” he said.

“But we’ve got to get this right,” Starmer added. “We’ve got to make sure there is peace, that it is lasting peace, and that is fair and that it is just, and that’s why I’m traveling to Washington with other European leaders to discuss this face-to-face with President Trump and President Zelenskyy.”

“Because it’s in everyone’s interests, it’s in the UK’s interests, that we get this right,” he said.

– Dan Mangan

Zelenskyy has finished his meeting with Trump’s Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, which took place in the last hour at the Hay-Adams Hotel across from the White House.

“​When peace is discussed for one country in Europe, it means peace for all of Europe. We are ready to continue working with maximum effort to end the war and to ensure reliable security. These are the key issues,” Zelenskyy said afterwards.

— Christina Wilkie

European leaders plan to begin arriving at the White House around 12 p.m. ET

Trump is expected to greet Zelenskyy at the White House at 1 p.m. ET.

The two leaders are scheduled to begin bilateral talks there at 1:15 p.m.

– Dan Mangan

While it’s unusual for so many European leaders to travel to the White House at once, each making the trip has already met with Trump during his second term.

Zelenskyy notoriously met with Trump in February, during a meeting that quickly devolved into a shouting match.

While this will be von der Leyen’s first time at the White House this term, she has met with the president before, including last month in Turnberry, Scotland.

Rutte has traveled to the White House at least twice since Trump’s return to office, once in March and the other time in July.

Starmer, Merz, Meloni and Macron have all previously met with Trump at the White House at least once, while Stubb is making his first trip this term.

Stubb played golf with Trump earlier this year, however.

— Erin Doherty

Trump continued to complain about the ongoing criticism of his summit with Putin in Alaska last Friday, which ended with no ceasefire or peace deal and was followed by an abridged “press conference” that allowed no questions from the press.

“I am totally convinced that if Russia raised their hands and said, ‘We give up, we concede, we surrender, we will GIVE Ukraine and the great United States of America, the most revered, respected, and powerful of all countries, EVER, Moscow and St. Petersburg, and everything surrounding them for a thousand miles, the Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners would say that this was a bad and humiliating day for Donald J. Trump, one of the worst days in the history of our Country,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“But that’s why they are the FAKE NEWS, and the badly failing Radical Left Democrats. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!”

— Kevin Breuninger

Hours before his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately attacking civilian targets in Ukraine in order to undermine the upcoming peace talks at the White House and raise pressure on Kyiv and Europe.

“This was a demonstrative and cynical Russian strike,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post that included video footage of an apartment building on fire with massive holes in its roof.

He said at least 10 people have been killed and dozens more injured in Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and the Sumy region. He also said that Russia struck an Azerbaijani-owned energy facility in Odesa, calling it “an attack not only on us but also on our relations and energy security.”

“Putin will commit demonstrative killings to maintain pressure on Ukraine and Europe, as well as to humiliate diplomatic efforts. That is precisely why we are seeking assistance to put an end to the killings,” Zelenskyy said. “That is why reliable security guarantees are required. That is why Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war. The war must be ended. And it is Moscow that must hear the word: ‘Stop.'”

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump said it is “a big day at the White House” in a Truth Social post ahead of his meeting with Zelenskyy.

“We have never had so many European Leaders here at one time,” he wrote, calling the convening of leaders across the European Union a “great honor for America.”

“Lets see what the results will be???” he continued.

The European leaders, which include French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, are set to arrive at the White House at noon.

— Erin Doherty