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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday he had a “good” conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump over the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine, the country’s territorial integrity, and future independence as the war with Russia enters its fourth year.

Addressing reporters at the White House alongside Trump and European leaders, Zelenskyy called attention to the need for security guarantees as the cornerstone of Ukraine’s ability to survive and one day regain its freedom. “The first one is security guarantees. And we are very happy with President [Trump], that all the leaders are here, and security in Ukraine depends on the United States and European countries,” Zelenskyy said. He later said Washington’s readiness to extend “strong signals” of support was “very important,” but he did not go into details on what guarantees might entail.

Trump underscored the importance of security but highlighted that most of the responsibility for it should fall on European nations. He also said it would be necessary to discuss territory. “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.”

Security Guarantees: The Debate Goes on

The White House meeting, which included a working lunch, made clear divisions between Western leaders over how to best balance support for Ukraine with the ongoing fight against Russian aggression and the need to seek a negotiated peace. Trump had expressed an openness to territorial concessions, while Zelenskyy has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine’s sovereignty and international borders must be preserved.

In Washington, as the leaders discussed guarantees, U.S. lawmakers were honing in on a need for new sanctions against Russia and its trading partners. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the Trump administration should more aggressively target Moscow’s finances with new tariffs aimed at countries that continue to purchase Russian oil. Graham, who is co-sponsoring legislation to provide such authority to Trump, made the comments on Fox News. “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. He added that Beijing, in particular, could wield considerable influence over Putin. “The second most important person on the planet to end this war is President Xi in China,” Graham said, urging Washington to pressure Beijing into withdrawing its support for Russia.

Trump has already shown he is not afraid to wield tariffs as a cudgel against other nations. In August, he announced a 50 percent tariff on India, in part for its purchases of Russian oil. Graham suggested a similar threat of action could bring about a dramatic shift in the conflict’s dynamics.

The European Union is also preparing its 19th round of sanctions against Moscow. The new measures, due later this month, are intended to further squeeze Russia’s energy revenues, restrict its access to banking and other systems, and disrupt its military-industrial base. The measures will also close loopholes that have emerged since the beginning of the war and allowed for sanctions evasion. After nearly four years of coordinated Western action against Moscow, Russia has become the most sanctioned nation in modern history, more isolated economically than Iran, North Korea, or Venezuela.

Still, sanctions are not the only sticking point in the coming weeks. European leaders have also pressed Trump to support a ceasefire before serious negotiations can begin. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a temporary halt to hostilities was needed for peace talks to be taken seriously. “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said. Trump disagreed, noting that a number of the six peace agreements he says he brokered in recent months were in fact signed without a ceasefire. “You have a ceasefire, and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild,” Trump said, while conceding that the main appeal of a truce would be the immediate cessation of civilian casualties.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who assumed the presidency in March this year, also participated in the White House talks. Stubb has been openly skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to respect a ceasefire and emphasized Finland’s long and difficult history with Russia, the country’s 800-mile shared border. Stubb, seen as one of Trump’s closest European interlocutors, said, “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.”

In addition to sanctions and ceasefires, Trump has been blunt about his preconditions for a peaceful settlement. In a post on his Truth Social platform ahead of the White House meeting, he called for Ukraine to formally relinquish Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and also to abandon its aspirations to join NATO. “President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote. He placed blame for the crisis on the Obama administration, for “giving” Crimea to Russia without any resistance more than a decade ago. Trump insisted that “NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE” must remain a hard line for Western nations.

The contrast between Zelenskyy’s calls for long-term Western guarantees for Ukraine and Trump’s insistence on concessions made clear the deep divides in Washington and European capitals over how to bring an end to the war. With new EU sanctions on the horizon, rising tariff threats in the U.S., and continued battlefield clashes, the road to peace is still being drawn between calls for compromise and calls for solidarity.