SHOWDOWN OVAL OFFICE

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says Trump agreed that the United States would contribute to Ukraine’s security following a peace deal, a development he called “a breakthrough.”

Membership in NATO is not on the table, but the U.S. and European leaders are discussing “Article 5 kind of security guarantees for Ukraine,” Rutte said in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. Article 5 of the NATO treaty says an attack on one member nation is an attack on all members, the heart of the transatlantic defense compact.

Details around U.S. involvement in Ukraine “will be discussed over the coming days,” which will give Zelenskyy the clarity he needs to decide whether Ukrainians can remain safe following a peace deal.

“It is important to also know what the situation will be with the security guarantees to prevent Vladimir Putin from ever, ever trying again to invade parts of Ukraine,” Rutte said.

The possibility of U.S. troops in Ukraine was not discussed Monday, he said.

The U.K. prime minister said Trump and the European leaders made ‘real progress’ at the White House Monday.

Starmer pointed to what he called two material outcomes: that Zelenskyy and Putin will meet and that the so-called coalition of the willing will now work with the U.S. on security guarantees for Ukraine.

“That’s really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe,” Starmer said in brief remarks to reporters Monday evening.

He said there was a “real sense of unity” among Trump, Zelenskyy and the other European leaders at the White House.

Zelenskyy said Russia first suggested that Ukraine and Russia meet one on one, to be followed by a three-way meeting that would include Trump.

Briefing reporters after the White House talks, Zelenskyy said “we are ready” for any leader-level meetings. He said it’s the only way to solve these “complicated and painful issues.”

No date has been set for him and Putin to meet, he said.

He says the Europeans were well-prepared and well-coordinated. He said Trump “noticed that we Europeans are speaking with one voice; that was … particularly important.”

The German chancellor gave a positive assessment of the lengthy talks.

“I don’t want to hide the fact that I wasn’t sure it would go this way — it could have gone differently,” he said. “But my expectations were not just met, they were exceeded.”

He said Trump had also been “very open for humanitarian questions,” and the issue of thousands of children abducted from Ukraine had been discussed.

The German chancellor said the Europeans and Americans will need to discuss who participates in the security guarantees and to what extent. “It’s completely clear that the whole of Europe should participate,” he said.

“This is not just about the territory of Ukraine,” he added. “It’s about the political order of Europe.”

Asked about the possibility of German peacekeeping troops, he said it was too early to give a final answer.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Trump, in his call with Putin, “agreed that there will be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks.” He said the venue must still be agreed upon.

Merz said that such a meeting “must, like all meetings, be well-prepared; we will do this with President Zelenskyy.” He said he doesn’t currently know what the meeting could produce.

Merz reiterated that it would be “desirable, and more than that, that there be a ceasefire in Ukraine at the latest with this meeting.”

“President Zelenskyy, for his part, said that he can hardly imagine having such a meeting with Putin without there being a ceasefire,” he added.

Russia state news agency Tass cited Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying the two presidents “spoke in favor” of continuing direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.

Ushakov said they also discussed “the idea of raising the level of the direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations.”

The state joins five others that have authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington as part of Trump’s show of force meant to crack down on crime and boost immigration enforcement in the nation’s capital.

The number of state troops detailed to the president’s effort from the six states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio — amount to more than 1,100. Governors from the states said they were responding to requests from the Trump administration.

It was not immediately clear why the administration requested additional support. About 800 troops have already been called up from the Washington, D.C., National Guard and have had a limited assigned role so far in Trump’s 10-day-old attempted takeover of D.C. law enforcement.

▶ Read more about troops authorized to deploy to Washington

Washington has been informed about the intent for the National Guard to be armed, though it has not received details about when that could happen or where armed Guard members could be deployed in D.C., according to a person familiar who was not authorized to disclose the plans and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It would be a departure from what the Pentagon and Army have said about the troops being unarmed. The Army said in a statement last week that “weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armory.”

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson also said last week that troops won’t be armed.

In response to questions about whether Guard members in Washington would be armed in the coming days, the District of Columbia National Guard said troops “may be armed consistent with their mission and training.”

Maj. Melissa Heintz, a spokesperson for the D.C. Guard, didn’t provide more details and said “their presence is focused on supporting civil authorities and ensuring the safety of the community they serve.”

After meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump said on social media that he called Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, at a location to be determined.

Trump said he will then sit down with both leaders after that meeting.

“This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he said.

He said Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.

“The East Room multilateral meeting has ended,” the White House said in a notice to the media.

Trump had said they would visit the Oval Office before heading back to their respective countries.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who has co-sponsored a bill imposing sanctions on Russia with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, said Monday there is a “lot of reason for skepticism and doubt.”

“All the talk about security guarantees, about a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting, about positive steps forward. All of it is coming from Trump and (special envoy Steve) Witkoff, not from Putin,” Blumenthal told The Associated Press.

He added that he believes Putin has “an incentive to prolong peace efforts and continue to play rope-a-dope with Trump.”

The Trump administration is siding with a Louisiana school district that says it should be released from decades-old desegregation orders that some advocates say are still needed to address racial disparities.

In a motion filed Friday, the Justice Department and the Concordia Parish School Board agreed to dismiss a 1960s case that required the small district to integrate its public schools. Court orders have remained in place to address the lingering impact of segregation.

U.S. District Judge Dee Drell has yet to decide on the request.

The Justice Department and Louisiana’s attorney general have worked to end older desegregation cases they say are no longer needed. In April, they lifted a 1965 order in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish.

Concordia’s filing says the orders interfere with its local control.

In July, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a brief arguing that there is “significant evidence that vestiges of discrimination continue to harm Black students” in Concordia’s schools.

It came as he closed the open session with European leaders about pursuing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Known for blasting the news media and punishing outlets he doesn’t agree with, Trump on Monday said: “The media’s been actually very fair, generally speaking, very fair.”

“I think it’s very important that they’re fair, because this is a very important subject to get it ended,” he said. “So that’s all we ever ask for, is fairness.”

With that, Trump was dismissing the gathered press when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, seated next to Trump, leaned over to thank him and laughed, saying “I never want to speak with my press.”

A focal point for negotiations on ending the war with Russia has been security guarantees for Ukraine as a shield against future aggression.

Details are still in flux, but it’s clear that European leaders see the issue as pivotal for the entire continent, not just Ukraine.

“When we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent,” Macron said.

Starmer made a similar point. “I think we could take a really important step forward today, a historic step actually to come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe,” he said.

The German chancellor said he would “like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting” with Ukraine, Russia and the U.S.

Like his other European counterparts, Merz had praise for Trump for his role in the process of angling to work out an end to the war.

Rutte told Trump his willingness to participate in security guarantees marked a “breakthrough” and “makes all the difference.”

Von der Leyen called for working together on “a just and lasting peace,” while Meloni called the gathering “an important day and new phase.”

Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy earlier that a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was “unnecessary.” After an hour of closed-door meeting with EU leaders and Zelenskyy, Trump then told reporters in the East Room that “all of us would obviously prefer the immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace.”

He added that he likes a ceasefire because it would “immediately stop the killing,” but reiterated that a peace agreement between the two countries is “very attainable” at this point in the war.

Sitting in the East Room, Trump was jovial as he recognized all of the European leaders at the table.

He called Starmer “my friend” and said he liked Macron “from day one.” He said Merz was “very strong” and said “I want to get a tan like that.” He praised Stubb’s appearance, saying “you look better than I’ve ever seen you look.”

Trump is opening a group meeting with Zelenskyy and leaders from Europe.

He’s using a new phrase to say he wants to end the war. Trump said the group wants to see “if we can get it finished” and “put this to sleep.”

The U.S. president and his guests lined up in the White House in a show of solidarity for the cameras. Macron was on his left, Zelenskyy on his right.

While they were standing there, Trump gestured toward a painting that depicts him pumping his fist after surviving an assassination attempt during last year’s presidential campaign.

“That was not a good day. Not a great day. See the picture?”

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told U.N. reporters “what everybody hopes” is that President Trump’s meetings with Ukraine’s president and European leaders “will go in the same vein” as the U.S. leader’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday.

He said Trump acknowledged that his meeting with Putin opened “an opportunity for a long and lasting peace.”

“And we welcome very much such a scenario,” said Polyansky, who is Russia’s current charge d’affaires at the United Nations.

“We hope that the Ukrainian leadership will, instead of thinking about saving their own skin, think about their people who don’t want to fight and who are ready for peace — fair, just and long-lasting peace,” he said. “That’s what Russia is trying to achieve in Ukraine for many, many years.”

The leaders were holding closed-door talks after they made opening statements and answered questions from reporters who were admitted to the Oval Office to see them together.

A group photo of Trump, Zelenskyy and the European leaders will follow before everyone meets in the East Room to discuss how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

It was only a few months ago that Trump and Zelenskyy last met in the Oval Office, but Monday’s face-to-face between the two leaders looked markedly different.

For much of their February exchange, during which Trump and Vance blasted Zelenskyy as “disrespectful” and warned about future American support, Zelenskyy crossed his arms and looked askance at the U.S. leaders. The presidents often spoke over each other, also gesturing disagreement.

Monday’s meeting was rounded out with more smiles and pleasantries between the two leaders, as well as agreement on some points regarding the ongoing war. Both men largely sat with their hands clasped in their laps, affably fielding questions from reporters.

The big topic of the Oval Office meeting Monday was what U.S. security guarantees Ukraine needs to agree to a peace deal and whether Trump would be willing to provide them.

Zelenskyy outlined what he said his country needed to feel secure, which included a “strong Ukrainian army” through weapons sales and training. The second part, he said, would depend on the outcome of Monday’s talks and what EU countries, NATO and the U.S. would be able to guarantee to the war-torn country.

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.”

Unlike the last time he was in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy, Vance made no comments during the public portion of Monday’s meeting.

Seated on a couch with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vance sat by as Trump and Zelenskyy interacted and took questions from reporters.

During February’s tense Oval Office meeting, Vance called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” for airing disagreements with Trump in public. Zelenskyy grew defensive, and Trump and his vice president blasted him as ungrateful, issuing stark warnings about future American support.

Trump said the Russian leader is “expecting my call when we’re finished with this meeting” with Zelenskyy and the group of European leaders.

Trump and Putin met in person Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war.

As Zelenskyy answered a question about the difficulty of holding an election during Ukraine’s war with Russia, Trump appeared to jokingly hypothesize how a similar circumstance could allow him to stay in power in the U.S. past the expiration of his current tern.

“So let me just say three and a half years from now — so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections, oh, I wonder what the fake news would say,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy noted the difficulties of being able to hold elections during wartime, saying a “truce” would be needed to do so safely.

“We can do security,” Zelenskyy said. “We need … a truce, yes, everywhere — the battlefield, the sky and the sea, to make it possible for people to do democratic open legal elections.”

Zelenskyy wants security guarantees as part of any deal to end Russia’s war against his country.

Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, mentioned NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine as he was being interviewed on Sunday talk shows.

It’s on the meeting agenda.

“We’re going to be discussing it today,” Trump said. He said European leaders want to give Ukraine protection and the U.S. will participate.

Brian Glenn, a conservative reporter, told Zelenskyy “you look fabulous in that suit.” Glenn had asked the Ukrainian leader about his clothing during his last visit to the Oval Office, implying that his casual dress was disrespectful.

Trump jumped in saying, “I said the same thing.” Turning to Zelenskyy, Trump said “that’s the one that attacked you last time.”

“I remember that,” Zelenskyy said as laughter rippled through the room.

Speaking in the Oval Office, he noted it will be a discussion point with European leaders today.

Asked if he would rule out such a deployment, the president said, “We’ll let you know that, maybe, later today. We’re meeting with seven great leaders of great countries, also, and we’ll be talking about that.”

“They’ll all be involved,” he added. “When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help.”

Zelenskyy’s assent came after Trump said the three leaders could meet if Monday’s White House meetings go well.

“We are ready for trilateral,” he said.

Such a meeting would be held to negotiate an end to Russia war against Ukraine.

Asked by a reporter if it is the “end of the road” for U.S. support for Ukraine if no deal is struck, Trump said it’s “never the end of the road.”

“People are being killed and we want to stop that. So I would not say it’s the end of the road,” Trump said as Zelenskyy sat next to him shaking his head at the question. He added that there’s a “good chance” of ending the war through these meetings.

“I know the president, I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it end,” Trump said.

In just a span of a few days and thousands of mile apart, Trump has hosted the leaders of two nations embroiled in war.

At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, dueling red carpets showed the way for both Trump and Putin to make their way to a platform emblazoned with “Alaska 2025,” where they briefly stood before taking Trump’s limousine to the meeting site. Trump arrived at the junction point first, waiting on Putin and greeting him warmly.

For Zelenskyy’s White House arrival Monday, Trump greeted the Ukrainian president at a threshold of the executive residence, after Zelenskyy’s motorcade wound its way up the driveway festooned with flags and lined with uniformed members of the U.S. military. After a handshake and pleasantries, Trump responded “we love them” as a reporter shouted a question about his message for Ukraine.

In both circumstances, Trump was host to the foreign leaders, welcoming them to U.S. soil.

The U.S. president welcomed the Ukrainian leader at the door of the West Wing. Trump pumped his fist as Zelenskyy’s vehicle pulled up, then shook hands with him.

Asked by a reporter about his message for the Ukrainian people, Trump said “we love them.” Then they headed inside.

The black SUV marked with U.S. and Ukrainian flags on the hood pulled from its staging point on the street, headed for the White House where European leaders have already arrived.

Cheers were also heard outside the White House as Zelenskyy’s motorcade approached.

A large Ukrainian flag is now positioned on one side of the entrance to the West Wing. An American flag is on the other side.

A military honor guard also has moved into position, its uniformed members lining the driveway.

They’re all in place at the White House, ahead of the Ukrainian president:

• NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
• French President Emmanuel Macron
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
• Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni
• Finnish President Alexander Stubb

After wearing a T-shirt earlier in the day, Zelenskyy is dressed more formally for other meetings.

At the Ukrainian embassy in D.C., he greeted European leaders in a black shirt with buttons and a black blazer.

The last time he was at the White House, his casual clothing became a point of irritation for Trump.