Trump to meet Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday after Putin as Ukraine war persists

CAIRO – 16 August 2025: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with US President Donald Trump on Monday, following a US-Russia summit that ended without an agreement to pause fighting in Ukraine.

The high-stakes meeting comes after Trump seems to have shifted his stance, now backing a full peace agreement over a ceasefire — a position long favored by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a social media post after talks with both Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump said it was determined “by all that the best way” to end the war is through a permanent deal to end the war than “a mere ceasefire.”

Zelenskyy, who was not included in the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin, said he had a “long and substantive” call with Trump and welcomed the upcoming meeting to “discuss all the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”

European leaders issued a joint statement expressing support for Trump’s efforts, emphasizing Ukraine’s right to decide its future and calling for “ironclad security guarantees.”

They also backed a potential trilateral summit including Europe.

Trump, who hosted Putin on US soil for the first time since Russia’s 2022 invasion, said he is open to meeting the Russian leader again if Monday’s talks with Zelenskyy go well.

The war in Ukraine, ongoing since February 2022, has caused hundreds of thousands of military deaths from both sides and has persisted despite ongoing efforts by the US and Europe to end the fighting.

An analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) posted in June reveals that Russian forces are on track to reach one million casualties by the summer of 2025, including around 250,000 deaths.

Meanwhile, between 60,000 and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, with a total of 400,000 casualties.