Zelenskyy prepares for fresh White House visit – as Putin issues first comments after summit

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is preparing for his meeting with Donald Trump – as Vladimir Putin issued his first comments following the US-Russia talks on the war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president will fly to Washington DC for the next stage of talks on Monday, which could pave the way for a three-way meeting alongside the Russian leader, Mr Trump has said.

It comes following a high-profile summit between the US president and Mr Putin, held in Alaska on Friday.

US-Russia talks on Ukraine – latest updates

The US president had heavily previewed the talks, threatening sanctions for Russia should there be no agreement on a ceasefire.

But a short news briefing following the summit ended with no mention of a ceasefire, no agreement on how to end the war, and little clarity about the next steps.

On Saturday, Mr Trump appeared to change his stance on what he hopes to achieve from the talks, indicating he wants a permanent peace settlement rather than a ceasefire, and announced the follow-up meeting with Mr Zelenskyy.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian president said he was grateful for the invitation and added: “It is important that everyone agrees there needs to be a conversation at the level of leaders to clarify all the details and determine which steps are necessary and will work.”

However, he said Russia had rebuffed “numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing”, which “complicates the situation”.

Mr Zelenskyy continued: “If they lack the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater – peaceful coexistence with its neighbours for decades.

“But together we are working for peace and security. Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war.”

The Ukrainian president’s last visit to the White House earlier this year descended into a fiery spat with Mr Trump and his vice president JD Vance that saw him leave early.

Mr Putin issued his first statement on Saturday afternoon following the Friday’s summit, describing the talks as “timely and quite useful” – but said the “removal” of what he calls the “root causes” of the crisis “must underlie the settlement”.

He continued: “We definitely respect the US administration’s position which wants the hostilities to stop as soon as possible. So do we, and we would like to move forward with settling all issues by peaceful means.

“The conversation was very frank and substantive, which, in my view, moves us closer towards making necessary decisions.”

Read more:
Analysis: Putin was pulling the strings
Key takeaways from Sky correspondents
Body language expert unpacks the summit

In calls on Saturday, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy that the Russian leader had offered to freeze frontlines elsewhere if Kyiv agreed to withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a person familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency.

US envoy Steve Witkoff told Ukraine’s leader that Mr Putin had said there could be no ceasefire without this, and that the Russian president could pledge not to launch any new aggression against Ukraine as part of an arrangement.

Meanwhile, European leaders who make up the “coalition of the willing” are set to hold a conference call tomorrow ahead of the crunch talks between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.

In a statement on Saturday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the US leader’s efforts had “brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine” and that his leadership “in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended”.

He said he supported the next phase of talks, but added: “In the meantime, until (Putin) stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions.”