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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday described his conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump as “good” on the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine as the conflict with Russia heads into a fourth year.

Zelenskyy, who was in the White House to meet Trump and European leaders, argued that security guarantees remained a central part of Ukraine’s 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. “It’s very important to show very strong signals,” he added. He did not specify what the guarantees would include.

Trump, for his part, agreed security was important, but said that the responsibility for it would fall mainly to European nations. The conflict, he added, would not be resolved without difficult discussions on the issue of 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.”

Monday’s meeting highlighted sharp divisions between Western leaders over how to support Ukraine while working toward a negotiated peace. Trump had long been willing to accept territorial concessions, while Zelenskyy had, from the beginning of the war, repeatedly stressed that Ukraine would never give up its sovereignty or international borders.

Sanctions, Ceasefire Discussions, and NATO

Leaders in Washington were discussing security guarantees while U.S. lawmakers sharpened their calls for economic sanctions on Russia and nations that trade with the Kremlin. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Politico that the Trump administration should consider more drastic measures against Moscow’s financial sector, including countries that continue to buy Russian oil. He is co-sponsoring a bill that would give Trump authority to impose tariffs on trade with Russia of up to 500 percent.

“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 second most important person on the planet to end this war is President Xi in China,” he continued, adding that China’s voice on the matter is the most important for Putin. “And if you can get China to stop supporting this war, you have a good chance to bring it to an end.”

Trump had already shown his willingness to employ tariffs as a tool, announcing in August a 50 percent tariff on India that he justified partially on the basis of the South Asian nation’s purchase of Russian oil. Graham suggested that a similar threat would have a real impact on China.

The EU is preparing to issue a 19th round of sanctions against Russia. The fresh sanctions are slated to be released later this month and are aimed at squeezing Moscow’s energy, banking, and military-industrial sectors even further while closing gaps that have enabled Moscow to evade Western sanctions. Coordinated Western action over the last four years has left Russia the most sanctioned state in modern history, far surpassing Iran, North Korea, or Venezuela in economic isolation.

But sanctions are not the only point of disagreement. European leaders have also tried to appeal to Trump over the need for a ceasefire before negotiations have a chance to be taken seriously. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that it was necessary to have at least a temporary lull in the conflict to allow for any peace talks to have the air of credibility. “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said. Trump said, however, that he believed that a meeting could work just fine without one. “I’ve had six meetings in the last four months without a ceasefire,” he said. Trump acknowledged the main benefit of a ceasefire would be to immediately stop civilian casualties.

The Finnish president was also in the White House for the meeting, openly skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s will to honor a ceasefire. Alexander Stubb took office in March 2024 and was attending his first major diplomatic meeting as president. Finland borders Russia to the east and has an 800-mile-long border with Russia, Stubb noted, speaking of the difficult relations between the two states. “Finland used to be at war with Russia 23 times,” he said. “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, who is seen as one of Trump’s best European interlocutors, has been an avid supporter of the U.S. president in Europe in the last few years. He was also one of a handful of European leaders to publicly support Trump in a video message at the White House at the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Beyond sanctions and ceasefires, Trump has been less ambiguous about what he would like to see for peace to begin. On Truth Social, he urged Ukraine to formally give up Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and drop its desire to join NATO. “President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. Trump argued that former President Barack Obama “gave” Crimea to Russia without any resistance over a decade ago, and that Ukraine joining NATO was out of the question. “NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE,” he said.