US President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there, though the extent of the assistance was unclear.

Trump made the pledge during an extraordinary summit at the White House, where he hosted Zelenskiy and a group of European allies following his Friday meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"In terms of security, there will be a lot of help," Trump told reporters, adding that European countries would be involved. "They are the first line of defense because they are there, but we will help them."

Zelenskiy praised the pledge as "a big step forward," adding that the assurances would be "formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days" and said Ukraine had offered to buy about $90 billion worth of U.S. weapons.

The tone of Monday's meeting was much warmer than the disastrous meeting in the Oval Office, where Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance publicly criticized the Ukrainian leader in February.

However, a peace deal still appears far from imminent.

Just before the talks began, the Russian Foreign Ministry ruled out deploying troops from NATO countries to help secure a peace deal, further complicating Trump's offer. Both Trump and Zelenskiy said they hoped Monday's meeting would ultimately lead to three-way talks with Putin, whose troops are slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine.

In a social media post Monday evening, Trump said he had contacted the Russian leader and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, to be followed by a trilateral summit between the three presidents. Trump told the European leaders that Putin suggested the sequence, according to a source in the European delegation.

Although the Kremlin has not publicly announced the agreement, a senior U.S. administration official said the Putin-Zelenskiy meeting could take place in Hungary. The pair will meet in the next two weeks, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. (alg)

Source: Reuters