US President Donald Trump on Friday hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, as part of a renewed push to end the nearly four-year war with Russia.
The meeting held as a bilateral lunch, was initially carried out in front of the press. During the meeting, Trump tempered his earlier pro-Ukraine stance voiced last month when he suggested Kyiv could retake all invaded territories and called Russia a "paper tiger". “I think they’re both doing a great job (in negotiations). We have to get it done," Trump said on Friday as he was sitting across Zelenskiy in the Oval Office.
Trump also dismissed Ukraine's push for the supply of long-range Tomahawk long-range missiles that risk to escalate the tension between the US and Russia. “It’s not easy for us to give … you’re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons. So, that’s one of the things we’ll be talking about. Hopefully, they won’t need it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the war over with, without thinking about Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters. In turn, Zelenskiy suggested that Ukraine could send its drones to US in a swap for long-range missiles launched mostly from submarines and war. “But the US is a very strong production and the US has Tomahawks and other missiles, very strong missiles, but they can have our thousands of drones. That’s why, where we can work together, where we can strengthen American production," Zelenskiy suggested. His remarks prompted a smile and a node from the US president. Trump complimented Ukraine on its production of unmanned aircraft. “We have a lot of drones right now. We build our own drones, but we also buy drones from others, and they make a very good drone,” Trump said.
The potential delivery of Tomahawks - with a range of over 2,000 kilometer - became a point of discussion after Trump floated the idea of sending these assault weapons to Kyiv if no progress was made in the war. During the press conference following the Friday meeting, Zelenskiy said the topic of possible acquisition of Tomahawks was not cancelled and "we have to work on it more." Commenting on the war with Russia, Zelenskiy told reporters: “We have to stop where we are. This is important, to stop where we are, and then to speak."
Zelenskiy's warm welcome in the White House and the calm meeting held in the Oval Office is in a stark contrast to the February Oval meeting that escalated into a loud debate and shouting between Trump, Zelenskiy and Vice-President JD Vance. Friday's meeting was held just a day before Trump's phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two-and-a-half-hour phone call ended with the decision to hold Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, Hungary in the coming weeks to discuss ending the war.
The meeting in the Oval Office did not yield the results that Kyiv had been hoping for - the secure of long-range Tomahawk missiles and the US guarantees to force Putin to abide with any future peace settlement.
