--- title: Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House | TIME 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.” canonical: https://time.com/video/aD4SrFoR/ og:title: Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House og: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.” og:url: https://time.com/video/aD4SrFoR/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aD4SrFoR/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House twitter: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.” twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aD4SrFoR/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * World # Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Strikes Friendlier Tone With Zelensky at White House](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aD4SrFoR.m3u8) (5:25)  _Published 2025-08-18. 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.”_ --- Aug 18, 2025 9:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Zelensky Expresses 'Regret' Over Oval Office Blowout with Trump, Calls for 'Strength to Move Forward'](/video/3KI4dwe1/) ### Zelensky Expresses 'Regret' Over Oval Office Blowout with Trump, Calls for 'Strength to Move Forward' [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Addresses Leaders at WEF in Davos](/video/mjoBMxmh/) ### Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Addresses Leaders at WEF in Davos [President Trump Strikes Sunny Tone at Neil Gorsuch Swearing-In](/video/pkK3Nf59/) ### President Trump Strikes Sunny Tone at Neil Gorsuch Swearing-In --- ## Transcript Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to have the president of Ukraine with us. We've had a lot of good discussions with a lot of good talks, and I think progress is being made very, very substantial progress in many ways. We had a good meeting, as you know, just a short while ago with the president of Russia. And I think there's a possibility that something could come out of it. And today's meeting is very important. We have, I guess, the seven, seven very powerful leaders from Europe. And we're going to be meeting with them right after this meeting. And thank you very much for being here. Thank you so much, Mr. President. If I can, first of all, thank you for the invitation. And thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war. Thank you. And using this opportunity. Many thanks to your wife, first lady of the United States. She sent a letter to Putin about our children. Abducted children and my wife. She first lady of Ukraine. She gave the letter. It's not to you. To your wife. I want. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a sensitive topic? Yes, please. And thanks to all our partners. And that you supported this format, that after our meeting, we can have leaders who are around us in the UK and France, Germany, Italy, Finland, EU, I mean, all, all partners around Ukraine supporting us. Thanks to them. Thank you very much for the invitation. Thank you very much for being here. First of all, you know we live under each day attacks. You know that there have been a lot of attacks and a lot of wounded people. And the child who was that small 111 year and a half. So we need to stop this war to stop Russia. And we need support American and European partners, and we will do our best for this. So and I think we we show that we are strong people. And we supported the idea of the United States, of personally of President Trump to stop this war to make diplomatic way of finishing this war, and we are ready for trilateral. As president said, this is a good signal, but I think this is very good. Thank you. We're going to have a meeting. I think if everything works out well. Today we'll have a trilateral, and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that. And is this the end of the road for American support for Ukraine? Is today's meeting deal or no deal? I can never say that. It's never the end of the road. People are being killed and we want to stop that. So I would not say it's the end of the road. No, I think we have a good chance of doing it. It's been almost four years now that a lot of people were killed last week, a lot of people last week. I mean, millions of people killed. But a lot of people last week, for whatever reason, a big number, a lot of soldiers, both on both sides. And I know the president, I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended. You look fabulous in that suit. I said the same thing. Yeah. Look, you look good. I said the same thing. Yeah. Looks good. That's the one that attacked you last time. See, now I remember. I apologize to you. You look wonderful. No. My first question for you. President Zelensky in the same suit. You see, I changed. You are. Not. Maybe yours is much better. Real quickly. Upon peace. God willing, we get peace. Are you open to holding an election in your country? Yes, of course we are open for election. Yes. We have to do safety circumstances and a little bit. We need to work in the Parliament because during the war you can't have elections. But we can. We can do security. We need maybe how to say we need a truce. Yes. Everywhere in the battlefield, in the sky and the sea. Yeah. To make it possible for people to to to do democratic, open, legal, legal elections. So you say. During. During the war you can't have elections. So let me just say three and a half years from now. So you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody. No more elections. Oh. That's good. I wonder what the. I wonder what the. You like this idea? I don't think you need a ceasefire. You know, if you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war. I didn't do any ceasefires. And I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand strategically why. Well, you know, one country or the other wouldn't want it. You have a ceasefire, and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild. And, you know, maybe they don't want that. But if you look at the six deals that we made, peace and, you know, long term, long running wars, I didn't do any ceasefires. Would I like I like the concept. You know, I like the concept of a ceasefire for one reason, because you'd stop killing people immediately as opposed to in two weeks or one week or whatever it takes. But we can work a deal where we're working on a peace deal while they're fighting. They have to fight. I wish they could stop. I'd like them to stop. But strategically, that could be a disadvantage for one side or the other. 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