German leader presses for ceasefire before Putin-Zelensky meeting

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday pressed for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine before President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet.

“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 these 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,” Merz said in a meeting Monday with Trump and other European leaders.

On Friday, Trump met with Putin in Alaska amid a push from himself and his administration for an end to the war in Ukraine — a push in which they have not had much luck. The president then met with multiple European leaders and Zelensky at the White House on Monday, with Trump and the Ukrainian president holding a more even-tempered Oval Office meeting than in February.

During the Oval Office meeting, Trump said a ceasefire may not be needed before arriving at a larger peace agreement, and he left open the chance that U.S. forces could take part in some peacekeeping force in Ukraine to stop further aggression in the future.

In a Truth Social post Monday evening, Trump said that he had “called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy.”

“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” the president added.