--- title: Trump Tells Zelensky to Forgo Regaining Crimea, Joining NATO description: “President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said. canonical: https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/ author: Callum Sutherland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-08-18T11:10:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:57.008Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Tells Zelensky to Forgo Crimea or Joining NATO og:description: Trump: “President Zelensky can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight." og:url: https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8905f94626eb2f0e/6998c8fb1f67090b11f56a4c/GettyImages-2201823773.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8256 og:image:height: 4644 og:image:alt: US-UKRAINE-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-ZELENSKY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Tells Zelensky to Forgo Crimea or Joining NATO twitter:description: Trump: “President Zelensky can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8905f94626eb2f0e/6998c8fb1f67090b11f56a4c/GettyImages-2201823773.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Tells Zelensky to Forgo Regaining Crimea and Joining NATO Ahead of White House Meeting > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: European Leaders Join Trump and Zelensky for Critical Talks on Ending War [Watch (HLS stream): European Leaders Join Trump and Zelensky for Critical Talks on Ending War](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NZDEuMmO.m3u8) (4:36)  _Published 2025-08-18. Zelensky’s return to Washington was backed by an extraordinary delegation of European leaders who rearranged schedules at the last minute to get to Washington on Monday to present a united front against Russia to Trump, days after Trump’s summit with Putin ended without any concrete steps toward a peace agreement._ by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Aug 18, 2025 11:10 AM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2025. U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2025. Saul Loeb—Getty Images by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Aug 18, 2025 11:10 AM UTC President [Donald Trump](https://time.com/7280106/trump-interview-100-days-2025/) has told Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelensky](https://time.com/7270880/zelensky-trump-putin-ukraine-endgame-interview/) to give up on the idea of Ukraine reclaiming Crimea or joining NATO. “President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump[ said](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115047128460078066) via Truth Social on Sunday night, stating there was “no getting back” Crimea and “no going into NATO by Ukraine.” Trump, who is now focused on securing a peace deal rather than a cease-fire to end the Russia-Ukraine war (which was triggered when[ Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022](https://time.com/6256509/ukraine-russia-war-anniversary/)), shared the advice ahead of his planned meeting with Zelensky and key European leaders at the White House on Monday. Ukraine’s pursuit for NATO membership has long been documented and is a point of contention for Russia. At the annual[ NATO Summit](https://time.com/7297698/nato-2025-summit-trump-iran-ukraine-defense-topics/) earlier in June, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said: “NATO has no business in Ukraine. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, neither Russia, my job is to keep it as it is.” NATO has maintained its stance on the matter. “Ukraine is not a NATO member. Ukraine is a NATO partner country, which means that it cooperates closely with NATO but it is not covered by the security guarantee in the Alliance’s founding treaty,”[ the organisation’s website reads](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics%5F192648.htm), specifying that “NATO condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia's brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.” Meanwhile, Crimea has been[ under Russian occupation](https://time.com/31914/crimeas-morning-after/) since 2014, when[ Moscow-backed forces](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-was-crimea-taken-so-easily) took control of the territory. Russia initially denied direct involvement in the occupation. **Read More**: [_Why Putin Must Be Thrilled With the Result of the Alaska Summit_](https://time.com/7310117/putin-talks-trump-ukraine-takeaways/) Trump’s comments on Sunday night come after he travelled to Alaska on Friday to engage in, what he referred to as, a “[high-stakes](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115032429826787232)” summit with Putin. The summit, which saw the first in-person encounter between Trump and Putin[ since 2019](https://time.com/7309711/trump-putin-history-meetings/), was intended to foster discussions about a path toward a potential cease-fire, but it ended earlier than expected and without any deal being reached. Trump and Putin spoke only briefly to reporters afterwards, and neither took any questions. Despite the anticlimactic event, Trump referred to the sit-down as “extremely productive” and has since lashed out at what he calls “fake news,” insisting he had a “[great meeting](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115044243039440041)” with Putin. Mapping out his reasoning behind[ inviting Zelensky to a White House meeting](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115037569702889410), Trump said: “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere cease-fire agreement, which often times do not hold up.” Trump late-night comments on Sunday, and his public direction to Zelensky re: his vision for how the war can be ended, fall in line with previous remarks he has made. [In an interview with TIME](https://time.com/7280114/donald-trump-2025-interview-transcript/) in April, Trump suggested that Crimea (which he has repeatedly referred to as being “given” by Barack Obama, who was President at the time of the Russian annexation of Crimea), would remain under Russian control when asked about a path to peace in Ukraine. “Will they \[Ukraine\] be able to get it back? They've had their Russians. They've had their submarines there for long before any period that we're talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” said the U.S. President. In that same interview, Trump also said that he didn’t see a future for Ukraine in NATO. “I don’t think they’ll ever be able to join NATO. I think that's been—from day one, I think that's been, that's I think what caused the war to start was when they started talking about joining NATO,” he maintained. Elsewhere, Trump has also previously stated that a lasting cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine war could likely only come through the exchange of territories “for the betterment of both.” Zelensky and his European allies have staunchly denounced this idea, with Zelensky stating that Ukraine will not “gift their land to the occupier.” Zelensky, who famously clashed with Trump during[ a disastrous Oval Office meeting in February](https://time.com/7263291/zelensky-trump-oval-office-showdown-us-ukraine-world-leaders-react/), will this time be bolstered by the presence and support of[ key European leaders](https://time.com/7310216/zelesky-trump-meeting-oval-office/) as he returns to the White House on Monday. **Read More**: [_The Secret White House Backchannel That Paved the Way For Trump’s Summit With Putin_ ](https://time.com/7308021/lukashenko-belarus-minsk-backchannel-trump-putin/) Among those set to attend are U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Also set to be present in Washington, D.C., for the peace talks are NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. Furthermore, Zelensky’s European allies are firm in their notion that “pressure” upon Russia can be increased moving forward. “We do stand ready to increase pressure on Russia, particularly the economy, with sanctions and wider measures as may be necessary,” Starmer[ said](https://youtu.be/RBpNVP2fKok?t=256) last week. “It’s important we all continue to work alongside Presidents Trump and Zelensky for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” ## Transcript Isn't that a good day? I really want to thank you. Uh, president of the United States. Dear Donald, for the fact that you, as I said before, broke the deadlock basically with President Putin by starting that dialogue. And I think it was in February that you had the first phone call. And from there, we are now where we are today. And that is I think if we play this well, we could end this. And we have to end this. We have to stop the killing. We have to stop the destruction of Ukraine's infrastructure. It is a terrible war. So I'm really excited. And let's make the best out of today. And the fact that you have said I'm willing to participate in the security guarantees is, is a is a big step. It's really a breakthrough and it makes all the difference. So also thank you for that. I think this is extremely helpful that we are meeting and hearing that the two of you are, uh, having such a good meeting today here in Washington. The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones. Now the path is open. You opened it last Friday, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations. And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire. The latest from the next meeting on. I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So let's work on that. And let's try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of this efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from next step on. So I would like to emphasize this aspect and would like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting wherever it takes place. Well, we're going to let the president go over and talk to the president, and we'll see how that works out. And if we can do that, I will say, and again, I say it in the six wars that I've settled, I haven't had a cease fire. We just got into negotiations and they are one of the wars was, as you know, in the Congo was 30 years, 31 years long. Another one that we settled last week with two great countries was 35 years going on, and we had no ceasefire. So if we can do the ceasefire, great. And if we don't do a ceasefire, because many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us. Great points. I just have to say here, everybody around this table is in favour of peace and and we work very hard and we've worked very hard during the past few years to have a peace which is a robust and long standing peace. This is why the idea of a trilateral meeting is very important, because this is the only way to fix it. And by the way, I think as a follow up, we would need probably a quadrilateral meeting because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent. And this is why we are all united here with Ukraine on this, on this matter, in order to organise such a trilateral meeting, your idea to ask for a truce or a ceasefire, at least to stop the killings, as we discussed, is a necessity. and we all support this idea. And when we talk about security, we're talking about the security, not just of Ukraine. We're talking about the security of Europe and the United Kingdom as well, which is why this is such an important issue. I think this is such an important meeting as a group. I think we've had a discussion on the phone a number of times, Mr. President, but be able now to be around the table to take it forward. And I really feel that we can. I think with the right approach this afternoon make real progress, particularly on the security guarantees and your indication of security guarantees of some sort of article five guarantees fits with what we've been doing with the coalition of the willing, which we started some months ago, bringing countries together and showing that we were prepared to step up to the plate when it came to security. With you coming alongside the US, alongside what we've already developed, I think we could take a really important step forward today. A historic step actually could come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe. I also feel that, um, we can make real progress towards a just and lasting outcome. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/"},"headline":"Trump Tells Zelensky to Forgo Regaining Crimea and Joining NATO Ahead of White House Meeting","datePublished":"2025-08-18T11:10:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:57.008Z","description":"“President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said.","url":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/","keywords":["Ukraine","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8905f94626eb2f0e/6998c8fb1f67090b11f56a4c/GettyImages-2201823773.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Callum Sutherland","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8905f94626eb2f0e/6998c8fb1f67090b11f56a4c/GettyImages-2201823773.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-UKRAINE-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-ZELENSKY","caption":"US-UKRAINE-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-ZELENSKY","creditText":"Saul Loeb—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ukraine/","name":"Ukraine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/","name":"Trump Tells Zelensky to Forgo Regaining Crimea and Joining NATO Ahead of White House Meeting"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House","description":"President Donald Trump welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to the Oval Office on Monday, striking a markedly more conciliatory tone than during their televised confrontation six months ago and not ruling out the possibility of U.S. troops helping defend Ukraine if a three-way meeting with Zelensky, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't come together soon. “If we don’t have a trilat, then the fighting continues,\" Trump said, with Zelensky by his side, adding, \"I think if we have a trilat, there’s a good chance of maybe ending it.”","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aD4SrFoR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-08-18T20:03:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aD4SrFoR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/","duration":"PT5M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"European Leaders Join Trump and Zelensky for Critical Talks on Ending War","description":"Zelensky’s return to Washington was backed by an extraordinary delegation of European leaders who rearranged schedules at the last minute to get to Washington on Monday to present a united front against Russia to Trump, days after Trump’s summit with Putin ended without any concrete steps toward a peace agreement.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NZDEuMmO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-08-18T21:24:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NZDEuMmO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/","duration":"PT4M36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7310286/trump-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-putin-conditions-white-house-meeting/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```