Trump interrupts talks with European leaders to call Putin amid push for ceasefire and trilateral meeting – live | Ukraine

• At the time of writing, Donald Trump has ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European allies visited the White House to push for US-backed security guarantees as part of any long-term peace deal. The US president, who only last week warned Russia of “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin failed to agree to a halt the fighting, made clear today that he had reversed his position. Later, sitting with the other European leaders in the east room, he acknowledged: “All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. Maybe something like that could happen. As of this moment, it’s not happening.”

• But some of the European allies refused to accept defeat on the ceasefire issue, mindful that the lack of one allows Putin more time to wage his war of aggression. Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany, insisted that “we would all like to see a ceasefire” and he could not imagine the next meeting taking place without one. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, also backed the idea of a “truce” as a “necessity”, adding: “We all support this idea.” By way of strategy, the leaders led with praise and gratitude for Trump, and several notably mirrored his language (for example, saying they wanted to “stop the killing”) and stressing the importance of protecting Ukraine’s children, referencing his wife Melania’s letter sent over the weekend to Putin urging him to consider children impacted by the war.

• Trump, though, was clearly swayed by Putin in Alaska and echoing his talking points. He said several times today that ending the war was “up to” both Zelenskyy and Putin (as opposed to just Putin, the invader). Ominously for Ukraine, Trump also added: “We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact – that means the war zone.”

• But he said Putin had accepted there would be security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal and that the US would help guarantee Ukraine’s safety, which Kyiv has long said would be essential for a lasting peace. “When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” Trump said. He declined to rule out sending US troops to Ukraine, noting it would be a discussion point with European leaders. But he also made it clear that European countries would be expected to mostly carry the burden, saying: “They are a first line of defence because they’re there. But we’ll help them out.”

• Several of the leaders emphasised the importance of the security guarantees to deter Russia from attacking again. Macron said: “The first one is clearly a credible Ukrainian army for the years and decades to come.” Europe was also clear about carrying its “fair share” of the burden, he said, “so you can count on this as we can continue”. Giorgia Meloni, the Italian PM, said: ‘We will talk about many important topics. The first one is security guarantees, how to be sure that it won’t happen again, which is the precondition of every kind of peace.”

• Trump also expressed hope that the talks with Zelenskyy could lead to a trilateral meeting with Putin. “I think if everything works out well today we’ll have a [trilateral meeting], and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.”

• And in stark contrast to the infamously heated exchange during Zelenskyy’s first trip to Trump’s White House in February, the Ukrainian president’s charm offensive this time around – which included wearing a black military-style suit and presenting a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, for Melania Trump in response to her letter to Putin – seemed to pay off, allowing him to emerge unscathed. But the state of play for Ukraine coming out of today’s meetings remains to be seen, and we’ll bring you more as soon as we get it.

Donald Trump has interrupted his talks in Washington with European leaders to call Vladimir Putin, German newspaper Bild is reporting.

Bild said the meetings are due to resume after the call, which Trump had initially said would take place afterwards.

If there was a sign that Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn’t going to be immediately voted off the island of the Donald Trump diplomacy show, it came early on when a familiar voice commended his choice of attire.

“President Zelensky, you look fabulous in that suit,” said Brian Glenn, a pro-Trump pundit and member of the White House press corps, who had attacked him for wearing military fatigues during the infamous Oval Office meeting in February. “I said the same thing,” Trump added.

“You are in the same suit,” Zelenskyy shot back, earning smiles and laughter from the room including the US president. “I changed, you did not.”

Thus did Zelenskyy survive his first media appearance at the White House with Trump on Monday as the US president focused less on belittling the leader of a wartime ally than boasting – and in many cases exaggerating – his exploits as a peacemaker in world conflicts.

Zelenskyy, dressed reluctantly in a black military-style suit to appease sticklers for protocol in the White House, largely sat by quietly as Trump claimed to have hammered out peace deals in six wars including one the veteran real estate developer said had taken place in the “Republic of the Condo”.

From Trump there was hyperbole about his ability to broker peace deals, digressions to internal US political battles over mail-in ballots, nebulous declarations about how he would end the conflict and evasions over how he would do that without negotiating a ceasefire.

But there were no explosions – which meant for Zelenskyy it probably went as well as it could have.

He found a far more hospitable welcome from both Trump and JD Vance, and he kicked off the meeting with some high-level flattery, thanking Trump profusely for his efforts to end the conflict and praising Melania Trump for sending a letter to Putin about abducted Ukrainian children.

There was little detail about the peace deal that Trump wanted to hammer out, except for the fact that he wanted to skip past a ceasefire – too difficult to actually negotiate – and go straight for a peace deal.

And yet it appeared that all – or at least most – sides were keen to smooth over their differences in order to prevent Ukraine as being seen as the main obstruction to peace and of throwing the ball back to Putin.

Joanna Walters

What has Vladimir Putin been up to today during the great international assembly at the White House?

It appears to have been a drab day in Moscow all around, damp and grey and the Russian president hosting a meeting at the Kremlin with the acting governor of the Rostov region, Yury Slyusar.

One gripping regional media headline is: “Putin noted a decrease in the pace of agricultural production in the Rostov region.”

Meanwhile the attacks and the killing in Ukraine go on.

French president Emmanuel Macron, notably, opens his remarks by saying: “Everybody around this table is in favour of peace”.

Discussions of security guarantees are “about the whole security of the European continent”, he tells Trump.

He reiterates Merz’s comments about asking for a ceasefire “at least to stop the kiilling”, adding “we all support this idea”.

Security guarantees would involve a strong Ukrainian army for “years and decades to come”, and a commitment from all those around the table to build security, he says.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz emphasises that they would like to see a ceasefire. “To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on,” he tells Trump.

He adds that he “can’t imagine” the trilateral meeting will take place without one, urging the US president to put pressure on Russia to get one.

Trump says “we’ll see … if we can do that” but, as he did earlier, highlights the “six wars|” he claims to have ended without a ceasefire.