- calendar_today August 7, 2025
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday that he had a “good” conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on the subject of security guarantees for Ukraine as the war with Russia enters its fourth year.
Speaking at the White House alongside Trump and European leaders, Zelenskyy said security guarantees are at the heart of Ukraine’s fight for survival and future independence. “The first one is security guarantees. And we are very happy with President [Trump], that all the leaders are here, and security in Ukraine depends on the United States and European countries,” Zelenskyy said. He added that Washington’s “readiness to extend strong signals of support to Ukraine” was “very important,” though he did not specify what such guarantees might entail.
Trump returned to his familiar refrains on the subject of security, saying that Europe must take the lead in providing support to Ukraine. He also restated his belief that the conflict cannot be resolved without some difficult conversations about territory. “We’re going to help them, and we’re going to make it very secure,” Trump said. “We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact. That means the war zone, the war line center.”
The meeting of the Western leaders at the White House laid bare deep divisions among them over how to weigh support for Ukraine against a desire to broker a negotiated peace. Trump has been far more willing to countenance territorial concessions than Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly insisted on the need to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty and international borders.
Sanctions, Ceasefire Debate, NATO Question
As the leaders in Washington debated guarantees, U.S. lawmakers ratcheted up their calls for economic measures targeting Russia and the countries that continue to do business with it. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said that the Trump administration should do more to target Moscow’s finances by putting pressure on nations still buying Russian oil. Graham is co-sponsoring legislation that would give Trump authority to levy tariffs of up to 500 percent on countries that continue to do business with Russia.
“My advice to President Trump and [Secretary of State Marco Rubio] is, you’ve got to convince Putin that if this war doesn’t end justly and honorably with Ukraine making concessions also, we’re going to destroy the Russian economy,” Graham said on Fox News. The senator singled out China as a particular lever over Putin. “The second most important person on the planet to end this war is President Xi in China,” Graham said, urging Washington to put pressure on Beijing to end its support for Moscow.
Trump has shown himself willing to use tariffs as a cudgel against governments seen as not pulling their weight, having announced in August that he would impose a 50 percent tariff on India in part over its Russian oil purchases. Graham suggested that if Washington were to threaten similar measures against China, the course of the war could change quickly.
The European Union is in the process of planning its 19th round of sanctions against Moscow. Targeted for release later this month, the latest sanctions are intended to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues, restrict its access to Western banks and the international financial system, and hobble its military-industrial complex, in addition to closing legal loopholes that have enabled its evasion of existing sanctions. After almost four years of coordinated Western action against Russia, Moscow is now the most sanctioned country in modern history, and in some respects more isolated economically than Iran, North Korea, or Venezuela.
Sanctions, however, are not the only point of tension among the leaders meeting in Washington. European leaders have also pressed Trump on the question of a ceasefire as a precondition for serious peace talks. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he does not see how negotiations can take place in earnest without at least a temporary halt to hostilities. “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said. Trump disagreed, arguing that several of the six peace agreements that he has claimed credit for brokering with Russia in recent months were signed without a ceasefire. “You have a ceasefire, and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild,” Trump said, although he did not deny that the main value of a ceasefire would be to immediately stop civilian casualties.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who was sworn into office in March 2024, also attended the White House talks. Stubb has been openly skeptical about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to observe a ceasefire if one were called. He noted his country’s long and difficult history with Russia, emphasizing Finland’s 800-mile border with the Russian Federation. “If I look at the silver lining of where we stand right now, we found a solution in 1944, and I’m sure that we’ll be able to find a solution in 2025 to end Russia’s war of aggression,” Stubb said, adding that he is “one of the European leaders President Trump trusts the most.”
The sharp contrast between Zelenskyy’s calls for long-term security guarantees and Trump’s demands for territorial concessions underscored the deep divisions in Washington and Europe over how to end the war. With new sanctions on the way, rising threats of tariffs, and little sign of a ceasefire or serious negotiations, the path to peace remains as elusive as ever, mired in the conflicting demands for compromise and solidarity.
