Zelensky and E.U. Leaders Press for Role in Peace Talks to End War

President Trump on Thursday offered reassurances that Ukraine would be involved in negotiations to end the war with Russia, a day after his remarks left that prospect in doubt and alarmed officials in Kyiv and Ukraine’s European allies that they would be left out of peace talks.

“Of course they would,” Mr. Trump said in response to a reporter’s question in the Oval Office in Washington about whether Ukraine would have a place at the table. “I mean, they’re part of it. We would have Ukraine, we would have Russia, and we would have other people involved, too.”

European leaders on Thursday demanded a role in any discussions between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to end the conflict, negotiations that could set the terms of peace and redraw the map of Europe.

Some of the closest allies of the United States, including Britain and Germany, were among those asserting that Ukraine — and their own countries — had a right to be at the negotiating table.

“Europe must be involved in the negotiations — and I think that’s very easy to understand,” said Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister. The continent, he said, “will have to live directly” with the consequences of any deal, and may have “to play a central or the main role in the peace order.”

Mr. Pistorius and other NATO defense ministers made their comments at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday, a day after Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, said a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders would be “unrealistic” and Mr. Trump held a lengthy phone call with Mr. Putin that signaled a potential willingness to make concessions to Russia that Kyiv has previously deemed unacceptable.

Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Hegseth’s comments suggested that the United States may expect Ukraine to give up part of its territory now seized by Russia, as well as its goal of becoming a member of NATO, which Russia vehemently opposes. But some European officials argued on Thursday against prematurely surrendering on those issues, since they will be critical bargaining chips in any deal.

When Mr. Trump said on Wednesday that he and Mr. Putin of Russia had begun talks to end the war, he notably made no mention of Ukraine taking part in the negotiations — an omission that triggered alarm throughout nations allied with Ukraine in Europe that Kyiv’s interests would be sidelined in the process.

After speaking by phone with Mr. Putin — he then spoke with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — Mr. Trump had suggested that borders could be redrawn and that NATO membership for Ukraine would be unrealistic.

Mr. Trump also said that reciprocal visits with Mr. Putin were likely. Saudi Arabia, he said, might host the peace talks. The Kremlin’s spokesman said on Thursday that Russia believed that a meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump should take place “fairly quickly” but that it was too soon to discuss dates.

Mr. Zelensky, reacting on Thursday to the Trump-Putin phone call, argued that his country must be involved in talks over its own fate.

“We, as a sovereign country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” he told journalists in Ukraine. It was “unpleasant,” he said, that Ukraine had not been notified to participate in the call.

Later on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Trump said that he had conferred with both Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky and that he believed Mr. Putin wanted peace.

“I think he would tell me if he didn’t,” Mr. Trump said.

The news of Mr. Trump’s initiative to end the war reverberated across Europe, from the gilded halls of power in Western Europe to the muddy trenches on the front line of the war. In Russia, financial markets skyrocketed, the ruble jumped, and business leaders in Moscow rejoiced.

The new American agenda came as little surprise to European leaders — Mr. Trump has been explicit about his views on the war in Ukraine — but the suddenness of the shift in the U.S. posture was, nonetheless, startling. Many in Europe shuddered at the prospect of renewed Russian influence on the continent and a diminished Ukraine.

This American posture on Ukraine risked straining some of the strongest trans-Atlantic alliances.

In Britain, where support for Ukraine crosses the political spectrum, Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month signed what Britain called a 100-year defense agreement with Ukraine, providing 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) a year in aid for the foreseeable future.

Now, Britain’s leaders must weigh their support for Ukraine against a determination to cultivate a friendly relationship with Mr. Trump.

“Let’s not forget, Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine,” John Healey, Britain’s defense secretary, said on Thursday. He added, “There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

Mr. Hegseth focused his remarks at the NATO meeting in Brussels on calling on European countries to spend more on defense. America’s allies, he said, must “make NATO great again.”

“President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker,” he said at a news conference after the meeting’s conclusion on Thursday. He also criticized comments European leaders commonly make about prioritizing their values. “Values are important,” he said, “but you can’t shoot values.”

The Trump administration’s push to start negotiations to end the war comes at a time of dwindling prospects for a military resolution of the conflict.

The pace of Russia’s multipronged offensive across eastern Ukraine has been dropping since November, with the Kremlin’s forces occupying just 19 additional square miles so far this month, according to Deep State, a group that analyzes combat videos and has close links to the Ukrainian Army.

The Russian military is also struggling to dislodge Ukrainian soldiers from a sliver of Russian territory in the western Kursk region despite committing tens of thousands of fighters and reinforcements from North Korea to the campaign.

Russia and Ukraine are both seeking to replace soldiers that have been killed or injured on the battlefield. The Russian government has offered growing bonuses and salaries to attract new recruits, a financial spiral that is contributing to destabilizing the Russian economy. Ukraine, for its part, is resorting to more draconian mobilization tactics to make up for the decline in volunteers.

In Ukraine, soldiers greeted the news of Mr. Trump’s initiative with a mix of fear and resignation. Holed up in a small wooden house on a side road near the front, a Ukrainian battalion commander, Lt. Col. Vadim Balyuk, said he feared the worst for his country.

“If we stop the fighting right now, it will give Trump the opportunity to stop the flow of weapons and ammunition to us,” Colonel Balyuk said. “This will allow Putin to build up his army — and in two years he could take over Ukraine very easily.”

Amid the prospect of peace talks, the war continues to rage. Russia dropped two bombs on Thursday on the city of Kramatorsk, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office. The bombs killed a 46-year-old man and wounded five other people, the prosecutor said.

Some civilians in Ukraine said they were desperate for the war to stop. On a foggy winter morning in Kyiv, the capital, the square in front of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery was filled with soldiers who had come to the cathedral for the funeral of another fallen comrade.

Observing the funeral was Oleksandr Liubun, 63, who lives in Lukianivka, a district of the capital that is often attacked by the Russian military. “I want it to be finally over,” he said of the war.

Yulia Liubintsova, 41, the head of a ballet dancers union, also expressed hope for peace negotiations. “I understand that we will not return our territories as we have no people left to fight,” she said. “There are so much fewer of us, so much fewer, so only negotiations can help.”

But near the front line, Ukrainian soldiers said they felt isolated and abandoned. A soldier who identified himself by the call sign Kocubaka, following military protocol, said that even though troops were exhausted, negotiating with Russia felt “too painful” to even consider.

“We know that, in the end, it will only be us fighting for our freedom, for our independence,” he said. “We’ll keep fighting, because there is no other choice.”

Reporting was contributed by Mark Landler, Maria Varenikova, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Ivan Nechepurenko, Constant Méheut and Hank Sanders.