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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he held a “good” phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend on the matter of security guarantees for Ukraine, as Russia’s war in the country heads into its fourth year.

Zelenskyy was speaking in the White House alongside Trump and European leaders, after a meeting in the Oval Office. He stressed that security guarantees were key to the country’s continued existence and future independence. “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. “The second one is that we are very grateful to the United States and the European countries for the support that we have already received from them. But we need a sign from the United States of America, of strong support.” He continued: “It’s very important to us. We don’t call it something like ironclad guarantees, but strong. And also, this is very important for us,” though he did not offer specifics on the details of those guarantees.

Trump, too, focused on the security question, but stressed that Europe would have to pay the “lion’s share.” The United States will “make it very secure” and is “trying to work out a deal,” he 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,” Trump said. “I believe it’s going to work out, but we have to have talks and get along.”

The meeting highlighted deep divisions among Western leaders between the desire to continue supporting Ukraine and the push for serious peace talks. Trump’s interest in territorial concessions also sharply contrasted with Zelenskyy’s repeated claims that Ukraine’s sovereignty and international borders are non-negotiable.

Sanctions, Ceasefire, and NATO

While the leaders met in Washington to discuss guarantees, U.S. lawmakers were sharpening their calls for economic pressure on Moscow and its trade partners. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on Sunday that the Trump administration should move to target the finances of nations that continue to buy Russian oil. He is co-sponsoring a bill that would allow Trump to place up to 500 percent tariffs on countries that continue to trade with Moscow.

“I think, before you cut off Russian oil, we’ve got to go after the banks, financial institutions, and I think we should,” Graham told NBC. “And the way to do it is have the president use his constitutional authority to put tariffs on every single country, from Germany to China to Japan to India that continues to do business with Vladimir Putin.”

Graham said that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio should make clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin the stakes. “My advice to President Trump and [Secretary of State 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,” he said on Fox News. “China is the key. The second most important person on the planet to end this war is President Xi in China,” Graham said, urging Washington to pressure Beijing to “stop subsidizing Putin’s war machine.”

Trump has already shown a willingness to employ tariffs as a blunt instrument, imposing a 50 percent tariff on India in August, partly due to its continued purchases of Russian oil. Graham suggested a similar threat against China might rapidly alter the course of the conflict.

In Europe, the European Union is preparing a 19th round of sanctions against Russia. Slated to be announced later this month, the new package is expected to focus on depleting Russia’s energy revenues, access to its banking system, and military-industrial base, while also closing many of the remaining loopholes exploited for sanctions evasion. After nearly four years of a highly coordinated Western effort, Russia has become the most sanctioned country in modern history, more economically isolated than Iran, North Korea, or Venezuela.

But sanctions were not the only point of contention at the White House. European leaders also tried to press Trump on the need for a ceasefire before serious negotiations begin. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who replaced Olaf Scholz earlier this year, argued that a temporary halt to hostilities was needed to give any peace talks credibility. “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said. Trump demurred, arguing that several of the six peace agreements he has claimed to broker in the past several months were done without a ceasefire. “You have a ceasefire, and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild,” Trump said. The apparent main benefit of a ceasefire, according to Trump, would be the immediate cessation of civilian casualties.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who assumed office in March 2024, also joined the White House meeting. He has been skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions to respect 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,” said Stubb, who described himself as one of Trump’s closest European interlocutors.

The contrast between Zelenskyy’s appeal for long-term Western guarantees and Trump’s call for concessions from Kyiv exposed deep divisions both in Washington and Europe on how to end the war. With new sanctions on the horizon, new tariff threats, and fighting continuing unabated on the battlefield, the prospects for peace remain as elusive as ever—caught between demands for compromise and appeals for solidarity.