"We have a good chance of doing it": Trump on ending Russia-Ukraine conflict

Washington DC [US], August 19 : US President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, discussing efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Trump expressed his desire to stop the killing of countless individuals in the war, saying, "People are being killed and we want to stop that". He added that if talks go well, a trilateral meeting with Russia might be possible, which could lead to a reasonable chance of ending the war.

Trump, in a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that if all the talks here go well, they will have a meeting in a trilateral format with the US, Ukraine and Russia.

"People are being killed and we want to stop that. I would not say it's not the end of the road. We have a good chance of doing it. It's been almost four years now. A lot of people were killed last week. A lot of people last week. Millions of people killed but lots of people last week for whatever reason. A big number. A lot of soldiers. Both on both sides. I know the president and myself and I believe Vladimir Putin want to see it ended," he said.

Trump called it an 'honour' to have Zelenskyy there at the Oval Office. He said that after a good meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he was hopeful that these talks would yield peace.

"Well, thank you very much. It's an honour to have the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy with us. We've had good discussions; we've had a lot of talks. We've big progress being made, substantial progress. We had a good meeting just a short while ago with the President of Russia and I think there's a possibility something can come out of it and today's meeting is very important," he said.

The last time Zelenskyy was in the Oval Office was in February, when he received a verbal lashing from President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who accused him of not being grateful enough for U.S. military assistance.

Monday's sit-down was a much more cordial affair, with Trump and Zelenskyy sharing smiles and Zelenskyy thanking the president for his personal efforts to bring this conflict to a close.

Zelenskyy is joined in Washington by a sweeping delegation of European leaders who rushed to the U.S. in support of the Ukrainian leader after being left out of talks between Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday.

Trump further said that he will hold talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

"We have the seven very powerful leaders from Europe and we're going to be meeting with them right after this meeting," he said.

"We're going to have a meeting. If everything works out well today we will have a trilateral meeting. I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that," Trump added.

Trump further said that the US would work with Ukraine and other countries to work towards peace in the region, not just a quick fix.

"We are going to work with Ukraine, we are going to work with everybody. We are going to make sure that if there is peace, peace is going to stay long term. This is very long-term. We are not talking about a two-year peace and then we end up in this mess again. We are going to make sure that everything is good. We have worked with Russia, we are going to work with Ukraine. We are going to make sure it works, I think if we can get to peace, it's going to work. I have no doubt it," he said.

Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his 'personal' efforts to stop the war in the region.

He also presented Trump with a letter from the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska for US First Lady, Melania Trump. This comes as Melania wrote to Putin expressing her concern over the loss of lives of children as a result of the conflict.

"Thank you very much Mr President for your personal efforts to help solve this war. I also thank your wife, First Lady of the United States, she sent a letter to Putin to talk about our children and my wife has also sent a letter for your wife. I also thank all the partners, France, EU, Finland, UK, Germany for supporting us," Zelenskyy said.

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