Trump says major Ukraine settlement may follow White House meeting with Putin envoy

President Donald Trump has said a major agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war may be taking shape, after an unscheduled meeting at the White House with Kirill Dmitriev, a special envoy to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump gave no detailed account of the discussion but portrayed a settlement as close. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the conflict was “very close to being settled.” He said any eventual arrangement would be “a big agreement” that could involve more than Ukraine and possibly “all of Europe.” Trump described the prospective deal as “big” and “beautiful,” but did not identify its terms, participants or timetable.

The meeting with Dmitriev took place as Russian and Ukrainian representatives were present at the White House for an event hosted by First Lady Melania Trump. The gathering honoured her role in brokering a recent six-day ceasefire in the war-affected city of Oleshky. The ceasefire was signed on October 23, according to ABC News.

Dmitriev thanked Melania Trump for what he called her “distinguished humanitarian role” in securing the truce. He said Putin had personally issued instructions connected to the operation and sent his thanks to the first lady. Ukrainian officials also attended the event, including Davyd Arakhamia, parliamentary leader of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party, and Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman.

Arakhamia praised Melania Trump’s efforts and asked her to continue helping Ukraine and pursuing further de-escalation. The reports do not indicate that the White House event produced a new formal agreement beyond the temporary Oleshky ceasefire, nor do they describe direct negotiations between Trump and Ukrainian officials on Thursday. Trump specifically said he had not met with the Ukrainian officials who were also at the White House.

That distinction leaves unclear how Kyiv views the broader agreement he described, and whether the proposed settlement has been discussed in a format acceptable to Ukraine. No details were reported on territorial issues, security guarantees or the status of military operations elsewhere in the war. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a US envoy, said the United States, NATO and European partners had held “productive and substantive discussions” on resolving the conflict.

He wrote on X that the objective was to address the security concerns of all sides through practical arrangements agreed by the parties and designed to reduce the risk of renewed conflict. Kushner said further discussions involving Russian and Ukrainian delegations were planned for Abu Dhabi next week. Those talks provide the clearest announced diplomatic next step, but the supplied reports contain no confirmation that a comprehensive deal has been reached.

For now, Trump’s comments signal an ambitious US claim about the prospects for peace, while the substance of the proposed agreement and the positions of Moscow and Kyiv remain largely undisclosed.