Trump and Zelenskyy in Ankara: Personal Meeting on the Margins of the NATO Summit and Prospects for Ending the War

On Wednesday, July 8, a key event on the international agenda will take place in Ankara, Turkey — a bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The talks will be held in the corridors of the North Atlantic Alliance summit, where the leaders of the two countries will discuss current security and diplomatic issues.

Information about the upcoming meeting was confirmed by a senior official from the US administration. A link to the source was shared by journalist Hibah Nasr on social network X, and the information was subsequently picked up by RBC-Ukraine. According to the source, Donald Trump will hold personal talks with two leaders during the summit: Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Prerequisites for Dialogue

The organization of this meeting came as no surprise, as the parties have already begun establishing direct contact. Just a few days before the summit announcement, on July 4, Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone conversation with Donald Trump. During the call, the Ukrainian leader congratulated his American counterpart on the 250th anniversary of the United States.

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an important agreement was reached during the conversation: the parties discussed the 'real prospect' of ending the war. It was during this call that the decision was made to continue the dialogue in person at the NATO summit in Ankara.

History of Contacts

This is not the first attempt by the leaders to establish dialogue through personal meetings. A preliminary meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump took place back in June 2026 on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The agenda then included discussions on critically important issues of defense cooperation, specifically the topic of Ukraine receiving licenses to produce anti-ballistic missiles.

Today's meeting in Ankara will continue this line, where the parties will likely return to discussing security mechanisms and ways to resolve the conflict, which they agreed to discuss during their phone conversation.