Lithuanian president's aide: results of US, European leaders’ meeting are promising

VILNIUS - The results of Monday’s meeting between the presidents of the United States and Ukraine as well as several European leaders are promising, Asta Skaisgiryte, Lithuanian president's chief foreign policy advisor, has said.

"I would say the results of this meeting are, well, promising. Whether they will turn out that way, we will see in the very near future," she told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday. They were later joined by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland, as well as NATO chief Mark Rutte and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

"First of all, the fact that Europeans were invited to Washington is very important. This is what the European Union countries and NATO's European partners wanted from the very beginning, and it has been done," Skaisgiryte said.

"I would say that it is very bad when there are discussions concerning Ukraine without other European countries participating, but now this problem has been resolved - European countries are participating," she added.

According to Skaisgiryte, the content of the talks in Washington was not new, but it became clearer what security guarantees Ukraine could expect.

"As far as we have been able to ascertain, there is talk of very strong security guarantees for Ukraine. Again, this is not a new topic, it has been discussed before, but it was during yesterday's meeting that those security guarantees began to take a certain shape," the presidential advisor said.

"First and foremost, this means strengthening Ukraine's own armed forces. And secondly, it means certain peacekeeping forces of NATO countries in Ukraine," she said.

According to foreign media reports, Trump interrupted his meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Skaisgiryte, this move by the US president was a tactical maneuver.

"We must understand that President Trump is playing the role of a mediator between Russia and Ukraine," the presidential advisor stressed.

"If only he takes sides, he ceases to be a mediator and becomes a participant on that side. So, in order to be a mediator and bring both sides to the negotiating table, various tactical maneuvers are possible. I think this was one of those tactical maneuvers," she explained.

Speaking to reporters after Monday talks with US president and several European leaders at the White House, Zelensky said he was ready for what would be his first face-to-face with Putin since Moscow's invasion nearly three and a half years ago.

Meanwhile, Putin told Trump on Monday that he is willing to meet Zelensky, a person familiar with the call said.

Putin told Trump, whom he met Friday in Alaska, of his readiness to meet Zelensky during a telephone call in a break from White House talks in Washington with European leaders, the person said on condition of anonymity.

According to the presidential advisor, the circumstances in which that meeting will take place will determine its purpose.

"We believe that a truce is necessary in order to start talks, as a truce would demonstrate the intention to end the war. And then we can consider the conditions under which the war could be ended," Skaisgiryte said.

"If the cannons continue to rumble while the talks are ongoing, then perhaps there is no intention to end the war. However, again, let's give these talks time to take place and see how they end. We are still in the very early stages, so it is too early to say," she added.