In a week marked by tense diplomacy and high-stakes negotiations, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has taken center stage in capitals across the globe. The latest developments reveal a complex web of competing interests, shifting alliances, and heated exchanges among world leaders, with hopes for peace still hanging in the balance.
On Friday, October 17, 2025, President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House for a three-hour, closed-door meeting that quickly became the talk of Washington and beyond. According to multiple reports, the session devolved into a "shouting match," with Trump repeatedly cursing and expressing open frustration at maps of Ukraine's embattled frontlines. "This red line, I don’t even know where this is. I’ve never been there," Trump reportedly lambasted, as quoted by The Financial Times and confirmed by officials familiar with the meeting.
The meeting came just a day after Trump had a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Reuters, the two leaders discussed the possibility of delivering Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine—a prospect that Putin firmly opposed. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later reiterated Moscow's unchanged position on any U.S. peace plan that would freeze Russian and Ukrainian forces along current lines, telling Interfax, "That topic has been raised repeatedly with various nuances during Russian-American contacts, and the Russian side has consistently given an answer, and that answer is well known: Moscow’s position remains unchanged."
During the White House meeting, Trump warned Zelensky that Putin would "destroy" Ukraine if he wanted to, echoing many of the Russian leader's talking points. "If [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you," Trump told the Ukrainian president, according to European officials cited by The Financial Times. At one point, Trump reportedly insisted that Zelensky surrender the Donbas region to Russia, a suggestion that has sparked intense debate among Ukraine’s allies.
The fallout from the meeting was immediate. European leaders, described by The Financial Times as "not optimistic but pragmatic," began planning their next moves. Zelensky, while publicly maintaining a positive front, left the White House empty-handed in terms of new military commitments from the U.S. However, he later told NBC’s Meet the Press that he was relieved Trump hadn’t outright refused Ukraine’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles. "For today, it’s good again that he didn’t say no," Zelensky remarked, adding, "The Tomahawks, it’s very sensitive for Russians. I think that Putin [is] afraid that [the] United States will deliver us Tomahawks. And I think that he’s really afraid that we will use [them]."
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the war continue to gather pace on multiple fronts. On October 20, 2025, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas insisted that any talks excluding Ukraine or Europe would be "inconclusive." Speaking to reporters, Kallas emphasized, "We are working also trying to convince our allies all across the world, nothing can come out of these meetings if Ukraine or Europe is not part of it." She added pointedly, "Who doesn't want to end this war is Russia. We should not be distracted... we have to make also Russia want peace."
Further complicating matters, reports have surfaced suggesting that Putin is demanding Ukraine hand over the entire Donetsk region as a condition for any peace deal, with possible Russian concessions in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The Institute for the Study of War, however, has cast doubt on the sincerity of these reported offers, noting that Russia’s ongoing offensives are "incompatible with Putin's claimed readiness to make territorial concessions in southern Ukraine." Dr. Samuel Ramani of the Royal United Services Institute offered a stark warning on social media: "A rare concession from Russia but should Ukraine take the bait? The answer is a hard no. First, Russia might have dominance over elevated terrain in Donetsk but is far from conquering the oblast. Russia is losing staggering casualties." He concluded, "A unilateral withdrawal from Donetsk will make Ukraine's boundaries less defensible and Ukraine more reliant on ambiguous US/EU support. It is not the right path for Ukraine. Trump's Tomahawks are needed more than ever."
Amid these diplomatic maneuvers, Ukraine is reportedly preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defense systems, a move that Zelensky said was a direct result of his recent meeting with Trump. While the contract has not yet been finalized, the discussions reflect Ukraine’s ongoing push to bolster its defenses as the war grinds on.
International attention is now turning to upcoming meetings that could shape the next phase of the conflict. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a gathering of the "coalition of the willing" in London on October 24, 2025, co-chaired by UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, Macron himself, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Zelensky is expected to attend, with the aim of uniting countries behind a plan to protect any future peace deal in Ukraine. In parallel, preparations are underway for a possible summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán noting that arrangements are progressing rapidly, though no date has been set.
Against this backdrop, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call described as "constructive" by Russia’s deputy defense minister Alexander Formin. The two discussed concrete steps to implement understandings reached during the recent Trump-Putin call, and further meetings are expected in the coming days to lay the groundwork for a new summit.
On the ground, meanwhile, the war shows no sign of abating. Over the weekend of October 18–19, Ukrainian drones struck the Orenburg gas processing plant in southern Russia, sparking a massive fire and forcing the suspension of gas intake from Kazakhstan. The Orenburg plant, run by Gazprom, is one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind, with an annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters, underscoring the far-reaching economic consequences of continued hostilities.
As the world watches, the lines between diplomacy and confrontation remain sharply drawn. Both sides continue to seek advantage—whether on the battlefield, at the negotiating table, or in the court of public opinion. For now, the prospect of a lasting peace in Ukraine remains elusive, with the coming weeks likely to prove pivotal in determining the conflict’s future trajectory.