Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the issue of territories will be discussed directly between him and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

US President Donald Trump, Zelensky, and European leaders met overnight at the White House.

After the meeting, Zelensky spoke to journalists in Washington and said he had a “fairly long” discussion on the issue of territories.

The matter was considered using a map prepared by the US, while the Ukrainian side also had a corresponding map showing the current front line.

“We had a long conversation about this. It is very important to understand that some parts of our state, part of the east and Crimea, were occupied not because one army was pressing on another and the other was stepping back,” Zelensky said.

“But because there were no massive hostilities, for example, in Crimea. So, one cannot say that such a large part was occupied in such a short period of time because the Russians have a strong army,” he added.

According to Zelensky, he argued “for every percent of the occupied territories.”

“I showed the situation on the battlefield to the American allies on the map – who really controls the battlefield, on our land, in the temporarily occupied territories,” the president added.

He stressed that such understanding is important for the US president to see that the Kremlin’s ground force advances are under Kyiv’s strategic control and to see the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU).

“For example, there are clear figures [that were not on the map], that in 1,000 days up to 1% of our territory was occupied by the Russians. People think 20% or 18% – but it was only 1%. This changes the focus a little. For us, the focus on the truth and on reality, which slightly changes the balance between Russia’s military strength and that of the Ukrainian military,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky added that the issue of territories will remain between him and Putin.

“It seems to me that the president [of the US] heard and saw this, and this is important information. And therefore the issue of territories is an issue that we will leave between me and Putin,” he said.

Meeting with Russia, bilateral first, then with Trump – but no date

According to Zelensky, Russia has proposed holding a bilateral meeting at the leadership level first, and afterward, the Kremlin wants a trilateral meeting with Trump.

“The US President contacted the Russian side and discussed possible diplomatic steps. Russia proposed a bilateral Ukrainian-Russian meeting first, followed by a trilateral one. We are ready for any format, at the level of leaders, because only at the level of leaders can we resolve all difficult and painful issues,” he said.

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine is ready for both a bilateral meeting with Putin and a trilateral one, but the big question is how the bilateral meeting would take place.

“We do not know any details about the bilateral meeting. The US President and I discussed the issue that all sides must demonstrate a desire to end the war. And the desire to end the war is a diplomatic meeting at the level of leaders,” he said.

According to him, if one or the other side does not demonstrate a willingness to meet, then Ukraine will ask the US to act accordingly and apply pressure.

Zelensky added: “We understand what formats there may be, so there is a possibility that our meeting may take place… If Ukraine starts to set preconditions for the meeting – some global, certainly fair, regarding a ceasefire, etc. – then the Russians will have a hundred preconditions on their part. Therefore, I believe that we should meet without any preconditions and think about how to develop this path to ending the war.”

At the same time, there is no date yet for a possible meeting with Russia.

“The date has not been set. Only after this productive meeting with the president and our other colleagues can we say what the course is toward a trilateral meeting. And if Russia initially offered the US president a bilateral meeting, Ukraine would never stop on the path to peace. Ukraine is ready for any format, but only at the level of presidents,” he told reporters.

Foreign contingent in Ukraine?

Regarding the possible deployment of a foreign contingent in Ukraine, Zelensky said:

“We are talking about a ‘Coalition of the Willing,’ about 30 countries, and we will understand what each of these countries can actually offer. Some may be ready to talk about presence, some about intelligence, some about the sea, some about air security – different formats.”

He pointed out that some of the countries participating in the “Coalition of the Willing” do not have the constitutional right to deploy troops. At the same time, however, such countries can finance Ukrainian production.

Security guarantees from Western partners – AFU funding, US military aid, and drone production

According to Zelensky, security guarantees from Western partners for Ukraine will be formalized within 7 to 10 working days.

Zelensky suggested that these guarantees will continue to expand, with more details to come in the future.

He outlined several points of the future agreement on security guarantees. The first concerns funding for the AFU.

“Our army consists of our troops, salaries. And here is the challenge: we cannot lose our army, we cannot have the army reduced many times over because you do not have funding. And we will not have such funding, physically it will not be in our budget, and we need additional finances,” Zelensky said.

He also announced his intention to secure the necessary funds and emphasized that European partners must understand “that we need to find a source of financing for a certain period, quite long, so that it is part of the security guarantees.”

The second element of the guarantees, Zelensky said, is a US military aid package.

“There is indeed a package with our proposals for $90 billion. It includes, first of all, aircraft, air defense systems, etc.,” the president said.

The third part of the agreement concerns Ukraine’s own drone production.

“We have an agreement with the US president that when we open up exports, they will buy Ukrainian drones. This will finance our domestic production of drones, our companies will have money to increase production,” Zelensky said.

He added that this part of the agreement will also include what partners can provide, how the security guarantees will function, and what forces will help protect Ukraine in the event of renewed aggression.

Zelensky stressed that there were no unacceptable decisions for Ukraine during his meetings at the White House.

He was asked whether any proposals were made at the meetings that Ukraine considered unacceptable, particularly regarding the format of ending the Russian-Ukrainian war.

“This is a discussion, a dialogue with partners. Each of us has our own arguments. There were no unacceptable decisions. I think each of us did our job,” Zelensky replied.