Zelensky explained Ukraine’s need for security guarantees at meeting with Trump – Reuters

That's according to two sources familiar with the negotiations, Ukrinform reports, citing Reuters.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the meeting in Paris, during which Ukraine's leader sought to build a rapport with Trump, whose promise to end the conflict swiftly has raised concerns in Kyiv that it could be largely on Moscow's terms.

Reuters spoke to a total of five pele who were briefed on the meeting.

The three leaders, who talked for 35 minutes without advisers, did not discuss specific details of any vision for peace, but Trump repeated that he wanted an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, four of the pele said. Trump behaved in a friendly, respectful and en manner and appeared to be in listening mode, one of the sources said.

Read also: Putin only afraid of Trump, possibly China – Zelensky

"Some key points were mentioned during the meeting – for example, it was said that peace needs guarantees because a ceasefire alone isn't enough, Putin could break it again, as he has done before, without prer guarantees," a source in the Ukrainian president's office said.

Asked how that was received, the source said, referring to Trump, "He's thinking about all the details."

Several officials close to Trump have said he has geared his meetings to building a personal rapport, which is key to how he conducts diplomacy, and that he will ultimately make the call on how to proceed.

The generally cordial nature of Trump's direct dealings with Zelensky differs from some of his public pronouncements about the Ukrainian leader on the campaign trail, including calling him "the greatest salesman on Earth" for having sicited and received billions of dlars of U.S. military aid.

Macron and Zelensky were on the same page at the Paris meeting, but were careful not to seem like they were cornering Trump, one official said. The French leader – who over the years has develed a knack for using personal relationships to advance his diplomatic efforts – and Zelensky worked in synergy to outline how they viewed the situation, while underscoring that without U.S. support it would be very difficult for Kyiv, the official added.

Zelensky believes Putin fears only Trump and possibly China in the international arena and that any lasting peace would require Washington to be "truly strong," the Ukrainian official said.

Macron used the meeting to make the case that Eureans have done a lot already to support Ukraine and that they were also willing to share the security burden more evenly with the United States, two of the sources said.

Another official said Macron and Zelensky explained to Trump that Putin in 2024 was not the same as he was in 2017, when the U.S. president-elect previously dealt with the Kremlin leader while in the White House.

The same official added that the rapid fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the setback that has dealt to his close ally Russia was also used as an argument for a tougher stance on Moscow in future peace efforts.

"It was about explanation without pushing Trump into a corner," the official said.