United States and NATO officials were set to meet Wednesday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine as the White House worked to arrange a summit between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff says Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed to allow the U.S. and Europe to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defense mandate.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Aug. 18, 2025, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine. (OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

TRUMP’S HOT MIC MOMENT: At the end of Monday’s White House meeting with Zelensky and seven European leaders, President Trump was caught on a hot microphone telling French President Emmanuel Macron that he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin would eventually agree to a peace deal as a personal favor to him.

President Donald Trump dismissed criticism of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska as "fake news" Sunday night on Truth Social, saying the war in Ukraine could be ended "almost immediately" but critics were making it harder to do so.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he will visit Washington on Monday to meet Donald Trump, who spoke at length with the Ukrainian president and with NATO and European leaders after the U.S. president's summit in Alaska with Russian counterpartVladimir Putin.

Presidents Trump, Zelenskyy and numerous NATO leaders held a virtual meeting Wednesday ahead of Friday's scheduled summit between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Friday’s summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska will be an important test for Putin.

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