WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/KYIV/MOSCOW/ZAGREB - US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders at the White House on Monday, with a focus on resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

Trump first held a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.

While answering reporters' questions together with the Ukrainian leader, Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the war to end, and he will work with Ukraine and all parties to make sure peace stays.

Trump said progress is being made in resolving the Ukrainian crisis and there will be security guarantees that Ukraine asks for.

The European leaders -- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron -- attended multilateral talks after the bilateral meeting.

In a speech to the media along with other leaders, Trump said Putin agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine and that Putin wants to find an answer.

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine would be happy if Trump could attend a possible trilateral meeting with him and Putin.

The Ukrainian leader said sensitive things, including the territorial issue, would be discussed at the trilateral meeting.

Trump said such a trilateral meeting should be held "as soon as we can."

Security guarantees

Zelensky said that security guarantees for Kyiv could be finalized within the next 10 days.

"Security guarantees will probably be 'unpacked' by our partners, and more and more details will emerge," Zelensky told a press briefing after the White House meetings, adding that detailed arrangements are expected to be formally documented within the next week to 10 days.

"It is important that the United States is sending a clear signal that it will be among the countries helping to coordinate and will also be a participant in the security guarantees for Ukraine," he said.

Trump told Zelensky on Monday that the United States would play a role in ensuring Ukraine's security as part of any agreement to end the conflict with Russia, without providing details.

ALSO READ: Trump: Zelensky can end conflict, but NATO bid, Crimea off limits

He said Europe is the "first line of defense," but "we're going to help them out."

Zelensky said that part of the guarantees involves a US weapons package. "There indeed is a package with our proposals worth 90 billion US dollars," he said.

The European leaders supported the idea of a ceasefire, saying that some progress could be made on security guarantees for Ukraine.

"I can't imagine that the next meeting will take place without a ceasefire," Merz said. He said that Putin and Zelensky are expected to meet within two weeks.

Macron floated the idea of a quadrilateral meeting that also involves the European side, saying that "when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent."

Trump phone call with Putin

Trump interrupted his talks with the European leaders to call Putin, according to media reports.

"At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself," Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday that Putin and Trump voiced support for continuing direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in a phone call. He said that Trump and Putin also discussed the idea of raising the level of representatives participating in the talks.

The meetings on Monday took place after Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours in the US state of Alaska on Friday. No deal was reached from the Friday meeting.

Iran: Initiative to end war welcomed 

Also on Monday, Iran said it welcomed any initiative to end the war in Ukraine but cast doubt on US credibility as a mediator, following a meeting last week between Trump and Putin in Alaska.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press briefing in Tehran that since the conflict erupted in February 2022, Iran had always announced that differences between the warring parties should be resolved through peaceful methods and had constantly encouraged the two sides to resort to dialogue and interaction to solve their disputes.

He added, however, that Washington must make considerable efforts to gain the trust of others due to its "poor track record" in international negotiations.

Baghaei said Tehran was closely monitoring developments related to Ukraine and was in contact with Russia, especially regarding the issues discussed during the meeting in Alaska. 

ALSO READ: Trump, Putin say Alaska meeting 'constructive'

9 killed in Russia strikes

Meanwhile, at least nine people were killed and 40 injured in Russian strikes on Ukraine's cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian authorities said Monday.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, a Shahed combat drone hit a high residential building in the city's Industrial District, killing six people and injuring 20 others, Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

The State Service for Emergencies reported that a one-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were among the victims, while six children were among those injured. Rescue operations continued with 140 emergency personnel and 39 units of equipment working on the site.

In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Russia's raids killed three people and injured 20 others, said Ivan Fedorov, the region's governor.

Many of the wounded were hospitalized in severe condition, while residential buildings, an enterprise, a bus stop and commercial premises were damaged, he wrote on Telegram. The attack followed a ballistic missile alert issued for Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 140 drones and four Iskander-M ballistic missiles overnight, with 88 drones shot down and other projectiles hitting targets in 25 locations across six regions. 

Russia's Defense Ministry said Monday that Russian air defense shot down 141 Ukrainian drones over the past day.

Defense systems also intercepted four guided aerial bombs and two US-made HIMARS projectiles, the ministry said in a statement. The acronym HIMARS stands for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.

Croatia rules out sending troops 

Separately, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that Croatian soldiers will not take part in "other people's wars," referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

"Croatia is a member of the European Union and NATO and only has obligations arising from membership in these alliances," Milanovic said in a statement on Facebook.

He stressed that Croatia has no obligations stemming from political or military agreements among leaders of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing," adding that the Croatian government is not authorized to push the country into any new coalitions that could involve the deployment of Croatian soldiers in Ukraine.