The U.S. president also said he would back European security guarantees for Ukraine.
Trump stopped short of committing U.S. troops to the effort, saying instead that there would be a “NATO-like” security presence but that all those details would be hashed out in their afternoon meeting with EU leaders.
“They want to give protection and they feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with that,” Trump said. “I think its very important to get the deal done.”
Monday's hastily assembled meeting comes after Trump met on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has said that the onus is now on Zelenskyy to agree to concessions that he said could end the war.
“If everything works out today, we’ll have a trilat," Trump said, referring to possible three-way talks among Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump. "We’re going to work with Russia, we’re going to work with Ukraine.”
Trump also said he plans to talk to Putin after his meetings with Zelenskyy and European leaders.
Zelenskyy also expressed openness to trilateral talks.
“We are ready for trilateral as president said,” Zelenskyy said at the start of his meeting with Trump. "It’s a good signal about trilateral. I think this is very good.”
Trump is first holding one-on-one talks with Zelenskyy. The two are then scheduled to gather with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
