The ‘cordial but inconclusive’ meeting among Trump, Zelensky, European leaders

Key takeaways from Monday’s White House meeting, according to The New York Times, are:

— All the participants appeared to agree on a plan to arrange direct talks between Ukraine President Zelensky and Russia President Putin while other issues are worked out, such as details of security guarantees for Ukraine and what, if any, territory Ukraine might be willing to cede. President Trump was “vague” about security guarantees, says the Times.

— Trump continued to portray Putin as genuinely interested in finding a way to end the war he’d started, says the Times. Trump said on social media he’d called Putin to start arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky and that he’d then seek to meet with both of them in a trilateral meeting.

But a statement by a Putin foreign policy aide that said there was agreement to appoint more senior negotiators for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine didn’t mention whether Putin would participate.

While Putin hasn’t refused outright to meet with Zelensky, he’s made clear “he does not consider the Ukrainian president either legitimate or his equal,” says the Times.

— Trump has said he doesn’t want to provide more aid to Ukraine, but he’s willing to sell weapons to it.

Zelensky told reporters on Monday that as part of any security guarantees, Ukraine would buy $90 billion in U.S. weapons through Europe, and the United States would buy drones from Ukraine.

Here is expert analysis of the results of the meeting, from the PBS NewsHour.

And here is more expert analysis, from the Atlantic Council.