Trump says Zelensky can "end the war with Russia" by giving up Crimea, NATO bid

Updates at 06:25 ET (10:25 GMT) with analyst commentary, oil price movements

Investing.com - U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could end the war with Russia "almost immediately" by accepting a peace deal with Moscow that would see Kyiv give up hopes of getting back the annexed Crimea region or joining the NATO military alliance.

But worries remain that Trump could try to use the talks with Zelensky in Washington on Monday to drive Ukraine into a settlement agreement that has been viewed as favorable to Russia.

Zelensky has welcomed offers of security guarantees from the U.S., but has appeared to dismiss the contours of proposals presented to Trump by Putin at a summit in Alaska last week, which included Ukraine losing a chunk of its eastern Donetsk region.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday, using an alternative transliteration of Zelensky’s name. 

Zelensky, who will be flanked by European heads of states at the White House on Monday, has said he supports a "swift and reliable" termination to the more than three-year conflict, but said Russia must be willing to end the war "it started."

The White House said Trump will meet Zelensky at 13:00 ET (17:00 GMT), and will engage in a multilateral meeting with European leaders at 15:00 ET. 

Trump met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Anchorage on Friday, and flagged positive, albeit vague progress in talks. Reports also showed Trump raising the possibility of reaching a long-term peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, instead of a temporary ceasefire. 

Trump had last met with Zelensky at the White House in late-February, in a highly contentious meeting that marked little progress towards a resolution in the war. Trump had called Zelensky a “dictator” and had implied that Ukraine was to blame for the hostilities, which have been ongoing since early-2022, when Russia first launched a military offensive against Ukraine. 

"[T]he Ukraine situation seems to be entering a highly fluid state, and there could be additional developments in the days, weeks, and months ahead," analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note to clients.

They added that, from a markets perspective, the Trump-Putin talks did not feature any of the major outcomes investors had been bracing for, such as a complete ceasefire or "draconian secondary tariffs on China."

Oil prices rose Monday, bouncing after last week’s losses, as concerns over Russian supply receded following the meeting between Trump and Putin.

(Scott Kanowsky contributed reporting.)