Trump giving friendly welcome to Zelensky, says 'reasonable chance of ending the war'

New York, Aug 18 US President Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House in a friendly atmosphere on Monday after a cavalcade of European leaders arrived to back him for talks that could be pivotal for ending the war with Russia.

As they sat down for their talks, Trump said: "If everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat (trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin) — and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that."

Their meeting followed Trump's summit with Putin on Friday in Alaska.

"The whole world is tired of it (the war)," he said, adding Putin wants to end it and Zelensky wants to end it.

Trump said that he would support a security guarantee for Ukraine with some form of a US involvement, but insisted that a ceasefire was not necessary -- a backdown from his demand for an immediate end to the hostilities.

"We will give them very good protection and very good security," he added.

The future of Trump's peace effort depends also on the fate of Ukrainian territory held by Russia and during the talks on Monday they would have to give shape to a proposal that could be given to Putin.

Trump did not get into it on Monday, although on Sunday he said on his social media platform Truth Social that Ukraine would have to give up Crimea that Russia captured in 2014 when Barack Obama was the US President.

Russia wants to hold on to the Donetsk region with a sizeable Russian ethnic minority, most of which it has captured.

"We're going to work with Ukraine, we're going to work with everybody, and we're going to make sure that if there's peace, that peace is going to stay long-term," he said.

"We're not talking about a two-year peace and then we end up in this mess again."

Trump couldn't pass up a chance to mention his claim of having stopped the Operation Sindoor conflict between India and Pakistan, listing it among the wars he ended.

A second time, he asserted he stopped a war that would have had big consequences without mentioning the countries only saying, "You know who."

He said that in the "wars" he stopped there was no ceasefire, but a direct move to an end.

Even if his claims about India and Pakistan conflict were taken at face value, there is only a "cessation of hostilities".

Before Zelensky's arrival, European leaders, including France's President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, were received ceremonially at the White House.

Before coming to the White House, they met at the Ukraine Embassy with Zelensky for a last-minute strategy meeting.

They are to meet collectively with Trump and Zelensky after the bilateral.

Trump welcomed Zelensky to the White House after he got out of his limousine, shaking his hand and briefly putting his arm around his shoulder.

They ignored questions from reporters, except one to Trump asking for his message to the Ukrainian people and he said, "We love them!"

The part of the meeting before the media was starkly different from the February encounter when Trump publicly scolded him, telling him he did not have the cards and could spark World War III.

US Vice President J.D. Vance, who started the attack in February, saying he was not adequately grateful to the US, remained silent.

US First Lady Melania Trump on Sunday wrote a letter to Putin to end the war and spare the children.

Zelensky handed over to Trump a letter from his wife to the First Lady.

When Trump glanced at it, Zelensky joked that it was for his wife, and Trump passed it on to an aide.

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