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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that he and U.S. President Donald Trump had a “good” conversation on the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine, as the war in the country with Russia heads into its fourth year.

“We just had a good talk about security, which is very important. But security in Ukraine depends on the United States and European countries, and we are very happy with President [Trump], that all the leaders are here,” Zelenskyy said at the White House while standing next to Trump and European leaders. “Security guarantees are at the center, at the top of the list, because without it, Ukraine does not have a future, because without security, there will be no independent Ukraine in the future,” he added.

Trump also said security was key, but said that Europe needed to shoulder most of the burden. While he agreed that Ukraine needed to have guarantees of security and independence, Trump also said that the problem “can’t be solved unless you have a real discussion with a very heavy price for the land that they’ve taken.” “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 at the White House between Zelenskyy, Trump, and European leaders highlighted the deep differences among Western leaders on how to balance support for Ukraine against efforts to secure a negotiated peace with Russia. Trump has been much more willing to countenance territorial concessions than Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly called for Ukraine’s sovereignty and internationally recognized borders to be preserved.

Sanctions, Ceasefire, and NATO

While world leaders in Washington were discussing what guarantees they might provide Ukraine, U.S. lawmakers were moving to make clearer calls for economic sanctions on Russia and nations doing business with the country. “I do think the Trump administration needs to take much more significant action to stop nations around the world, including in this region, from buying Russian oil,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. Graham is co-sponsoring a bill that would allow Trump to levy up to 500 percent tariffs on countries that 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. “The second most important person on the planet to end this war is President Xi in China. You’ve got to use every carrot and stick in your arsenal to get the Chinese to say no more for Putin.”

Trump has already signaled his willingness to use tariffs as part of a strategy to pressure countries that buy Russian oil, imposing a 50 percent tariff on India in August on this basis. Graham said that the threat of similar action against China could have an immediate impact on the war. “This could change very quickly,” Graham said. “A call from President Trump to Xi in China, you stop taking oil, and you end this war. If you don’t, we’re going to go hard after you.”

European Union member states are expected to agree on a new round of sanctions on Russia later this month. The 19th package of sanctions would be similar to previous EU measures, hitting Russia’s energy exports, financial sector, and military-industrial complex. The new penalties would also close some of the loopholes that have made some measures porous and that European officials say have allowed for evasion of previous sanctions.

Sanctions have now been on the table in one form or another for nearly four years. As a result, Russia has now become the most sanctioned country in the history of modern sanctions regimes, more isolated than Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.

Sanctions, however, were not the only issue in dispute. European leaders also pressed Trump on the need for a ceasefire before negotiations could meaningfully take place. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that to build confidence in the negotiations, a temporary ceasefire is needed. “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said. Trump rejected the premise, noting that out of six peace agreements that he brokered in recent months, most had been reached with no ceasefire. “You have a ceasefire, and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild,” Trump said. Trump then acknowledged that the main benefit of a ceasefire would be to stem the loss of civilian lives.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who was elected president in March 2024, also participated in the White House discussions. He had been skeptical about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to adhere to a ceasefire. “As a neighbor of Russia that has a roughly 800-mile-long border with Russia, Russia is not a trustworthy actor, at least not the Russia we see today,” Stubb said. Stubb has been openly skeptical of Putin’s willingness to maintain a ceasefire. “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,” he said.

The stark differences between Zelenskyy’s call for Western security guarantees and Trump’s call for immediate concessions laid bare the wide gulfs on both sides of the Atlantic about how to end the war. With new EU sanctions in the works, increased tariffs being discussed, and the war continuing on the battlefield, there is no clear path forward to end the war, caught between calls for compromise and demands for solidarity.