Ukraine Crisis: From Humiliation of European Leaders to Zelensky's Change of Position on Land Transfer

The Ukrainian president, who had previously rejected the transfer of occupied territories to Moscow, said on Monday: "I will postpone the decision on the transfer of territory until I meet with Putin."

News ID: 86597

Date: 19 August 2025 - 11:13

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The U.S. President, while hosting Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior European leaders at the White House, announced his efforts to arrange direct negotiations between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine to end the war.

Western media described the European leaders as Zelenskyy's bodyguards who rushed to the White House to protect him from Trump.

After a phone call with Putin, Trump emphasized that following this bilateral meeting, a trilateral meeting involving him and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts would take place.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte separately confirmed that Putin had agreed to hold bilateral talks, though the date and location remain unspecified.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described his meeting with Trump as "very good" in a conversation with reporters, expressed his readiness to meet with the Russian president.

The state-run TASS news agency, citing Yuri Ushakov, implicitly confirmed Putin's agreement to the meeting.

The proposal for a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting came as the sensitive issue of security guarantees for Ukraine took center stage in White House discussions. However, the exact details of these guarantees remain unclear.

When asked whether the U.S. would send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, Trump responded, "European countries will be on the front lines of defense, but Washington will provide significant assistance."

Zelenskyy stated that these guarantees would be outlined by Kyiv's partners and formalized within the next 10 days.

The NATO Secretary General, after Monday's talks, described Washington's commitment to playing a role in Ukraine's security as a major development in an interview with Fox News, saying, "What we all agree on is that the war must end."

For decades, Ukraine has suffered heavy losses by relying on written guarantees, including during Moscow's attack and occupation of Crimea in 2014. Russia has signed numerous international treaties recognizing Ukraine's sovereignty and borders. Putin personally signed such an agreement in 2004 but violated it in 2014 and 2022.

The issue of ceding Ukrainian territories to Russia also remained unresolved during the White House talks. Before the meeting, Trump had warned that Crimea's return to Ukraine was impossible.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News, "Both Moscow and Kyiv must make concessions for an agreement. It's clear that land swaps are part of the negotiation. This won’t be easy, and it may not even be fair. But it’s necessary to end the war. This is true for any war."

Zelenskyy, who had previously rejected ceding occupied Ukrainian territories to Moscow, said on Monday, "I will defer the territorial issue to my meeting with Putin."

Russia currently occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine's territory. Ukraine, which last year seized control of a large part of Russia's Kursk region in a surprise counteroffensive, currently holds no Russian territory.