Trump to meet with Zelensky, EU heads in White House Monday

The leaders will arrive at the White House at 12 pm, followed by Zelensky at 1 pm. Trump and Zelensky are slated to speak to press at 1:15 pm, followed by a photo of all the leaders at 2:30 pm. At 3 pm, Trump will be joined for talks in the East Room with Zelensky and the EU leaders.

No agreement was come to by Putin and Trump on Friday after Trump greeted the Russian head-of-state on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on Friday. The goal of that meeting was to set the stage for additional meetings between other interested parties.

As they walked away from the tarmac, Trump displayed a show of strength in having a B-2 bomber fly overhead. Trump has been eager to gain peace between the two warring nations.

"I believe we had a very productive meeting," Trump told press afterwards. "There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway."

"It is apparent that sooner or later we'll have to... move on from the confrontation to dialogue," Putin said, speaking first. "Me and President Trump have very good, direct contact... And I agree... that naturally the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well."

There were a few sticking points, namely security guarantees and land concessions on the part of Ukraine. However, special envoy for the White House Steve Witkoff told CNN that the White House was "able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO." Russia had not previously agreed to such a condition.

The US has staked a responsibility for Ukraine's security since President Bill Clinton signed the Budapest Memo in the early 1990s saying that America would come to Ukraine's defense in the event that this was needed so long as Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Ideally, the presence of the EU leaders in the White House on Monday will prevent a repeat of the fiasco that occurred during Zelensky's first White House visit of Trump's term. Zelensky insulted Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and he and his delegation were booted out of the office.

Trump has been seeking peace in the war between Ukraine and Russia since before entering his second term in office. The Friday meeting was step one, the Monday meeting in the White House is step two, and Trump wants to see a third meeting, this time between warring enemies Zelensky and Putin, as soon as Friday. The war began in February, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.