Ukraine talks special: Will Zelensky and Putin meet?

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This is a special edition of the Global News podcast with an update on the U.S.-Ukraine talks in Washington.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway.

We're recording this at 1:30 GMT on Tuesday, the 19th of August.

Donald Trump says he's begun arrangements for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky.

He was speaking after talks with the Ukrainian president at the White House.

President Trump also said the US could be involved in security guarantees for Ukraine.

European leaders at the meeting stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire.

But how will Russia respond?

Three days after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, it was Vladimir Zelensky's turn to put his case to the US President.

The Ukrainian leader was joined at the White House by a heavyweight European delegation, and it seems to have worked.

There was no repeat of the bust-up scene when Mr.

Zelensky visited the Oval Office in February.

In fact, the reporter who'd berated him for wearing military fatigues last time was full of praise for his smart outfit.

President Zelensky, you look fabulous in that suit.

I said the suit.

Yeah, you look good.

I said the same thing.

Yeah,

I said someone that attacked you last time.

See, now he's in the back.

I remember that.

I apologize to you.

You look wonderful.

No, my first question for you, President Zelensky.

On the more serious matter of ending the war in Ukraine, President Trump said that in a very significant step, as he put it, President Putin had agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine.

Mr.

Trump even suggested the U.S.

could play a role in the event of a deal, though he didn't give details.

There'll be a lot of help.

When it comes to security, there's going going to be a lot of help.

It's going to be good.

They are our first line of defense because they're there.

They're Europe.

But we're going to help them out also.

We'll be involved.

President Trump later broke away from the talks to speak by phone to Vladimir Putin, a call that reportedly lasted 40 minutes.

He said he'd begun arrangements for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents at a location to be determined, as he put it.

He would then join them for a trilateral meeting.

President Zelensky gave his reaction to the media at the gates of the White House.

We are ready for any kind of format, but on the level of leaders.

Thank you so much.

Just before we came on air, I asked our correspondent in Washington, Arunadeh Mukherjee, for more details of those possible security guarantees that Ukraine wants from the U.S.

This is interesting because this is where I think talks really hinged on.

You know, what kind of assurances as far as security guarantees are concerned.

And we're getting different sort of statements from various leaders who were involved in those conversations, but I think this is still something which is work in progress because we're not getting the complete picture of what exactly are they looking at.

You know, when they say it's like it's going to be a NATO-style agreement, what does that mean?

Are we looking at increased American support?

If so, then what is that?

You know, we saw some very confident statements coming in from Donald Trump where he said that, look,

we're going to do a lot to protect them, but what does that actually translate to?

His last post on Truth Social was interesting where, you know, he talked about security guarantees being provided by various European countries, but then he goes on to say, with a coordination with the United States of America.

America.

Now that's fairly ambiguous, right?

So we still don't have a clear understanding.

And even a short short while back when President Zelensky spoke outside the White House at the end of the day, he also didn't give too many details, but essentially talked about why it is required and why it is needed.

And there will be a role that the U.S.

would play.

But we still don't have too much of a sense of what exactly that's going to look like.

Now, there's some reporting that the hope is for a Putin-Zelensky meeting by the end of August.

Could that really happen?

Well, it remains to be seen.

I think a month ago, we perhaps couldn't have imagined that summit in Alaska, and then within forty-eight hours, you know, you saw all the developments taking place here in Washington, D.C.

So clearly, there is a momentum, and I think that's what the leaders involved are hoping, that they don't lose on the momentum and try to sort of make the most of what they have managed to get done at this point in time.

That's what you picked up from a lot of the statements that came in from all the involved leaders, you know, talking about progress being made, how the talks were constructive, how the time is right.

So they would certainly hope that this happens, but again, you know, it still remains to be seen because Donald Trump has had a conversation with Vladimir Putin.

They are discussing the possibilities of this, but we still don't have any confirmation of when it would happen at all.

And remember, even as they're trying to figure this out, the onslaught on the ground, the military onslaught on the ground in Ukraine is still very much carrying on.

Yeah, the meeting itself was a very different tone to the one we saw back in February.

And indeed, what we saw in Alaska.

What do you make of it all?

Well, it was definitely very different from what we saw the last time.

And I think that's why you saw the European leaders rally around the Ukrainian president just to show that sort of support to try and avoid a repeat of what had happened last time.

And that showed in the body language as well.

But what's interesting is while there were some statements of positivity and agreement, there were also some points which reminded us how people are also speaking in different tones.

You know, President Trump reiterated that he is still for a complete peace agreement rather than a ceasefire.

You know, he reiterated that.

But we heard from leaders from France and Germany, for instance, you know, who are still very much pushing for a ceasefire, saying that for any talks to proceed, there has to be a ceasefire.

So, you know, these are reminders that there are still areas that they need to speak in one voice over.

So, how's it all going down in Ukraine?

Katie Watson is in the capital, Kiev.

I spoke to a Ukrainian yesterday who was very worried about this meeting, worried that President Zelensky would would be made a fool of after that meeting back in February.

I mean, if you think three days ago, Ukrainians here were watching Presidents Trump and Putin holding a summit in Alaska on Ukraine, not even inviting Ukraine.

Fast forward to today, and he's now at the center of negotiations with European leaders and Donald Trump.

So I think people here will be pleased to see that turnaround, pleased to hear from leaders talking about security guarantees, talking about a trilateral.

He and his advisors even brought along a map to show Donald Trump about what territory in Ukraine was held by Russia, presumably with the intention of explaining that they did not want to be giving up any of that land.

But certainly ceasefire talk as well.

Donald Trump wanting to skip a ceasefire.

Again, leaders saying that that was really important to have a ceasefire first.

I think all of this will be good news for Ukrainians watching and tuning into this, even if it's small steps and we're still a long way from peace.

Katie Watson in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

Well, Vitaly Shevchenko is Russia editor at BBC Monitoring and the host of Ukrainecast.

Vitaly, lots to discuss.

U.S.

and European security guarantees, Ukrainian territory, Donald Trump's change of heart over his earlier demand for a ceasefire, and most intriguing, a possible meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.

Now, standing where you are in Washington, what are the chances, do you think, of a Putin-Zelensky summit?

Well, it seems that things are definitely going that way.

Even the Russians, who have consistently been opposed to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, they said that they are prepared to raise the level of their representation in talks with Ukraine, which shouldn't be that difficult given that the talks in Istanbul, the delegation that the Russians sent there was insultingly junior when it comes to serious negotiations.

However, what they said today does not necessarily mean that it's Vladimir Putin who's going to be meeting Vladimir Zelensky.

And let's not forget that the Russian President does not see Vladimir Zelensky as a legitimate leader of Ukraine.

So even though Donald Trump, after speaking to Putin, said that a bilateral meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents was possible, followed by a trilateral meeting involving him, Donald Trump, it's not a definite by any measure.

Now, when Vladimir Zelensky was asked what he wanted by way of security guarantees, he said, everything.

What is on offer and what will Russia accept?

That is a really good question, Oliver.

I asked Vladimir Zelensky that question again when he was speaking here outside the White House, and he said, well, that's going to be between me and our allies and the Russian president.

He seemed reluctant to discuss the nitty-gritty of those security guarantees, which is one of the most important questions, really, a question of what exactly Ukraine's allies are prepared to give Ukraine or provide to Ukraine to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine.

The Ukrainian President said that funding for the Ukrainian army, funding for weapons production in Ukraine, was a key part of security guarantees.

But when I ask him, do those guarantees include more weapons or better weapons provided to Ukraine or new US packages of military aid and other types of aid?

He did not answer that question.

What of the question of Ukraine having to give up more territory to Russia?

That seemed to be a key demand going into the meeting in Alaska.

Has there been a change?

We don't know.

In fact, during all the appearances in front of the media assembled here at the White House, the Ukrainian President, U.S.

President Donald Trump, and European leaders, they seem to be unwilling to discuss the subject of territorial concessions.

Instead, it seems as though their conversations focused on security guarantees and the possible meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

They know that this is a hugely controversial issue, the prospect of Ukraine possibly giving up its territory to Russia.

They know that's not really a guarantee for Russia to stop attacking Ukraine ever in the future.

So I get the impression that they were really unwilling to air their views in public on that issue.

Vitaly Shevchenko in Washington.

And that's all from this special edition of the Global News Podcast.

The normal podcast will be back very soon.

This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll and produced by Paul Day and Nikki Verico.

Our editors, Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway.

Until next time, goodbye.

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