OAN Staff Sophia Flores
1:24 PM –Monday, August 18, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office to discuss certain terms, address objections, and explore strategic measures aimed at bringing the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war to a resolution.
During the discussion, Trump suggested that it’s possible to negotiate and achieve a peace agreement without first stopping the fighting on the ground. Analysts who have argued this point maintain that ceasefires aren’t always a “necessary” first step. Many leaders and diplomats will first prioritize political or strategic concessions over halting violence immediately.
Trump has also argued that ceasefires often don’t hold up. He suggested that negotiations could continue even amid ongoing hostilities
On Monday, Zelensky walked into the White House wearing an all-black ensemble. Once inside the Oval Office, President Trump kicked off the bilateral meeting with a few brief remarks.
“It’s an honor to have the president of Ukraine with us,” Trump stated. “We’ve had a lot of good discussions, a lot of good talks. And I think progress is being made — very substantial progress — in many ways.”
He emphasized that this particular meeting with Zelensky, which falls on the heels of his prior meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin, is “very important.”
Zelensky expressed his gratitude to President Trump for working to bring an end to the conflict. He also thanked First Lady Melania Trump for her letter to Putin, where she urged him to safeguard the innocence of children affected by the war.
The Ukrainian president then went on to present President Trump with a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska — though he noted that his wife’s letter is intended specifically for Melania.
At one point, the U.S. president reminded Zelensky and everyone else in the room that “if everything works out today,” there will be another scheduled meeting between himself, Zelensky, and Putin in the near future.
Trump suggested further that he believes the trilateral meeting offers “a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.”
Later in the meeting, the GOP president asserted that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine stemmed largely from the actions of the previous Biden administration.
“This isn’t my war, this is Joe Biden’s war,” he said.
Putin echoed this sentiment during Friday’s meeting, suggesting that former President Biden was neither reliable nor trustworthy in negotiating deals or fostering peace. He also implied that the former Democrat leader would struggle to be taken seriously in relation to a matter such as this.
“Today when President Trump [said] that if he was the president back then, there would be no war,” Putin stated while in Alaska. “And I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so, I can confirm that. I think that overall, me and President Trump have built a very good businesslike and trustworthy contact. And I have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come…the sooner the better, to the end of the conflict in Ukraine.”
As the meeting with Zelensky continued, Trump acknowledged the high number of fatalities throughout the three-year war. He noted that, of the six wars and conflicts he has helped bring to an end, he initially expected this one to be the easiest — yet it has proven to be quit difficult.
“I thought this maybe would be the easiest one and it’s not the easiest one. It’s a tough one,” Trump said.
Nonetheless, the Republican president also maintained that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
“We’re going to have a lasting peace,” Trump stated. “I hope it’s going to be 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.”
“The war is going to end. When it ends, I couldn’t tell you.”
Zelenksy argued that obtaining “security guarantees” is the key to ending the war, at least from his side. He explained his perspective on what his country needs in order to achieve their goal.
“[It] includes two parts. First, a strong Ukrainian army that I began to discuss with your colleagues, and it’s a lot about weapons and people and training issues and intelligence,” he said. “And second, it will .. we will discuss with our partners. It depends on the big countries, on the United States, on all of our friends.”
Trump responded by affirming that the United States will continue supporting Ukraine on security matters, but he stressed that his administration will no longer provide military aid without cost.
“We’re not giving anything now. We’re selling weapons, I guess the number’s well over $300 billion,” Trump said, while seated next to Zelensky.
“[The giveaway] was under Joe Biden, a corrupt politician, not a smart man. Never was.”
President Trump stated that he is open to the possibility of U.S. troops acting as peacekeepers in Eastern Europe.
“We’ll let you know that maybe later today, we’re meeting with seven great people, great countries also, and we’ll be talking about that. They’ll all be involved, but there’ll be a lot of — there’ll be a lot of help when it comes to security. There’s going to be a lot of help. It’s going to be good.”
“They are first line of defense because they’re there, they’re Europe, but we’re going to help them out.”
The day’s next steps include Trump and Zelensky meeting with European leaders at the White House to discuss ways to continue supporting Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will participate in the multilateral meeting.
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