“An agreement to end the war is inevitable”: Trump and Zelensky exchange first statements
28 February 19:42
on February 28, 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC. [comersant] has collected the first statements of the two leaders that they exchanged.
What Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his meeting with Donald Trump
“I understand what Europe is ready to do. I want to ask Trump what the United States is willing to do.”
“I think Trump will not stop supporting Ukraine.”
“If Trump brings peace to Ukraine, it will be at the level of George Washington.”
“Putin has violated the ceasefire 26 times. It wasn’t during your administration. But he did violate it. Therefore, we will never accept a ceasefire without security guarantees.”
“Putin does not respect Ukrainians and he wants to destroy us all.”
“The rule of war is that the one who started the war has to pay. Putin started the war. We have 300 billion in frozen assets in Europe. But this is not enough.”
“This is not a war between the US and Russia. This is Russia’s war against Ukraine. These two sides should be at the negotiating table. The United States and Europe should be present there.”
“We will never accept a ceasefire alone. Russia will violate it.”
What statements did US President Donald Trump make?
“We will sign the minerals agreement today. It’s a very fair deal with Ukraine and a great commitment on the part of the United States.”
“All parties are quite close to reaching an agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.”
“Ukraine will not return to war. Putin will not want to return. As soon as we sign the agreement, it will be over.”
“An agreement to end the war is inevitable.”
“We continue to send weapons to Ukraine. I hope we won’t have to send much more.”
“You always have to make compromises and, of course, Zelensky will have to make compromises.”
“I’m between the two (Putin and Zelenskyy – ed.). I don’t want to speak badly of anyone. I want to solve this problem.”
“We will be committed to NATO, but NATO needs to get stronger. Why should the US pay so much more for Europe. We need to equalize the contributions.”
“I highly appreciate your (Ukrainian – ed.) generals, your soldiers and yourself. These are very hard battles, very difficult battles. You are great fighters. It should have been over very quickly, but here we are three years later.”
“We will use (the agreement between Ukraine and the United States to be signed today, February 28 – ed.) for everything we do, including artificial intelligence, including the production of weapons and military equipment… It puts us in good shape.”
“I hope to be remembered as a peacemaker. I do this to save lives – this is more important than anything else.”
“I stopped a lot of wars. Many people wanted to fight, but I stopped them. You have not even heard about it.”
As a reminder, at 17:00 Kyiv time, negotiations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump began at the White House. The main topic of the talks is the conclusion of an agreement on minerals.
