Zelenskyy gets promises of long-term U.S. support in White House talks with Trump

Geoff Bennett:

Leaders from across Europe descended on Washington today in a remarkable show of support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who came to the White House to meet President Trump. The hastily arranged summit followed Friday's Anchorage meeting between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Today's gathering lacked the red carpet treatment Trump gave Putin, an indicted war criminal, but had the same goal, to end 3.5 years of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Nick Schifrin starts our coverage from the White House.

Nick Schifrin:

At the White House today, a literate war survived what his aides worried was a diplomatic minefield and received promises from President Trump of long-term U.S. support.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: We're going to be discussing it today, but we will give them very good protection, very good security.

Nick Schifrin:

In a deal outlined today, Ukraine's ability to guarantee its security will rely on European troops sent into Ukraine, as well as European weapons and Europe's purchasing American weapons to be dispatched to Ukraine.

And, today, President Trump declined on three occasions to rule out sending U.S. troops.

Question:

Are you going to be willing to send American peacekeepers to Ukraine?

Donald Trump:

Well, we're going to work with Ukraine. We're going to work with everybody and we're going to make sure that, if there's peace, the peace is going to stay long-term.

Question:

Could that involve U.S. troops? Would you rule that out in the future?

Donald Trump:

We will let you know that maybe later today.

Question:

What kind of security guarantees do you need from President Trump to be able to make a deal? Is it American troops, intelligence, equipment? What is it?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President:

Everything. It's a lot about weapons and people and training issues and intelligence. And, second, we will discuss with our partners. It depends on the big countries, on the United States, on a lot of our friends.

Donald Trump:

We're really honored you guys came over.

Nick Schifrin:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got by with more than a little help from those friends today, the largest ever gathering of Europeans in Washington outside a NATO summit.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte:

Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:

And the fact that you have said I'm willing to participate in the security guarantees is a big step. It's really a breakthrough and it makes all the difference.

Nick Schifrin:

And those guarantees describe today as similar to NATO's core principle of collective defense.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni:

Giorgia Meloni, Italian Prime Minister:

I'm happy that we will begin from a proposal, which is the, let's say, Article 5 model. It's something we have to build together to guarantee peace.

Nick Schifrin:

But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was a pressing principle.

Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor:

I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a cease-fire. So let's work on that. And let's try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on at least a cease-fire from the beginning of the serious negotiations.

Nick Schifrin:

President Trump suggested that proposal was already rejected by Putin.

Donald Trump:

If we can do the cease-fire, great. And if we don't do a cease-fire, because many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us, great points.

Nick Schifrin:

But part of any deal is expected to include a redrawn map, as President Trump discussed with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Russia demands Ukraine withdraw entirely from Donetsk, even though Ukraine still controls part of the province. That would give Russia full control of the Donbass, Ukraine's industrial engine, and a key to the country's defense.

Russia is then willing to negotiate in neighboring Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, based on the location of the front line. It's also willing to give back Ukrainian territory it occupies to the north in Kharkiv and Sumy. But Russian troops and Russian-backed separatists have been fighting to conquer the Donbass for 11 years. The Kremlin's demand to be given territory that its soldiers have failed to seize is impossible, Zelenskyy said yesterday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy:

Russia is still unsuccessful in the Donetsk region. Putin has been unable to take it for 12 years. And the Constitution of Ukraine makes it impossible, impossible to give up territory or trade land.

Nick Schifrin:

Before the White House meetings, the Europeans coordinated to present a united front. Zelenskyy called for — quote — "joint pressure," including increased sanctions on Russia. But the U.S. will not impose more sanctions during negotiations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this weekend.

Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State: The minute you levy new sanctions, those talks probably stop for the foreseeable future. And that means the war continues for the foreseeable future. I hope that doesn't happen. We may very well wind up there, but we're going to try to do everything to prevent it because we want to reach a peace agreement.

Question:

Will you commit to not killing any more civilians?

Nick Schifrin:

But some U.S. officials believe, even if Putin were given a new map, he would refuse to make peace. In the past, he's demanded Ukraine cap the size of its military and its Western support, and even demanded the U.S. reduce its troops in NATO's Eastern flank, as he alluded to during Friday's Anchorage summit.

Vladimir Putin, Russian President (through translator):

We're convinced, in order to make the settlement extremely lasting and long-term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict.

Nick Schifrin:

Of course, the European officials who are still meeting with President Trump in the White House behind me believe that the root cause of the war is Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tonight, Vladimir Putin's top foreign policy aide has confirmed that President Trump called Vladimir Putin in a call that was described as — quote — "frank and constructive." A senior Ukrainian official participating in the meetings tonight tells me that the Oval Office meeting was — quote — "very good" and the whole day has gone — quote — "more than good," indicating, Geoff, that at least the Ukrainians, or from their perspective, they have achieved what they sought to achieve today.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Nick, what more do we know about what that means?

Nick Schifrin:

We really don't have many details, Geoff.

As I reported at the top of the piece, Ukrainian officials were worried about how today would go, and so their expectations were low. But they had European unity on their side, including many European leaders whom President Trump has grown quite fond of, and they had momentum already on a key point, security guarantees.

Already, President Trump's aides were out describing the security guarantees that the U.S. could participate in as NATO-like, as Article 5-like, the idea of NATO's collective defense. And today was the first time that President Trump publicly endorsed the idea of a long-term U.S. presence or a long-term U.S. security support for Ukraine, and he didn't rule out U.S. troops being part of that.

Europeans will commit troops for sure, as well as a large amount of money to buy American weapons for Ukraine. But how far President Trump is willing to go, Geoff, that will determine how sweet or sour this deal is for Zelenskyy. U.S. officials tell me that Zelenskyy wasn't expected to say yes tonight, but they expected him not to say no, and to go back to Kyiv and perhaps present a counteroffer.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Nick, what more can you tell us about President Trump's call to Putin today? What did they talk about?

Nick Schifrin:

According to Russian media, just out in the last few minutes, they did discuss that trilateral meeting that President Trump has promised and that President Zelenskyy, you heard in the White House today, endorse.

And his aides, President Trump's aides, really strongly object to the idea that the Friday summit in Anchorage was some kind of win for President Putin. They argue that that summit moved the ball along, allowed this meeting today, allowed the phone call between President Trump and President Putin tonight, and that at that summit Putin agreed that these security guarantees could be offered by the United States to Ukraine.

But, of course, there are still sticking points, Geoff. You heard Friedrich Merz raise the idea of a cease-fire before the next meeting. That is not something that President Trump endorsed. And Europe wants to keep pressure on Russia, and, as you heard Rubio and others, senior officials, saying they will not impose more sanctions while these negotiations continue — Geoff.

Geoff Bennett:

Nick Schifrin at the White House for us tonight.

Nick, thank you.

Nick Schifrin:

Thank you.