Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelenskiy has hailed as “successful” his meeting with US leader Donald Trump in the White House on Friday, stating that the meeting yielded progress on acquiring Patriot air defence systems.
“After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with Trump and his team, his message, in my view, is positive: that we stand where we stand on the front line," Zelenskiy told media on Sunday in remarks that were embargoed until Monday. The Ukrainian leader revealed Kyiv was now preparing a contract to purchase 25 Patriot air defence systems in a major boost to the country’s air defences. Zelenskiy, however did not specify how close Ukraine had come to inking the deal for the purchase of 25 Patriots, but large part of his US visit had been dedicated to discuss the issue, including directly with Trump. Zelenskiy’s remarks are in stark contrast to some media reports that claimed Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Zelenskiy well bad as the US president berated Zelenskiy during the meeting.
Zelenskiy visited White House on Friday to meet Trump for the third time. The visit came a day after Trump’s phone conversation with Putin that ended with the commitment to hold the two leaders’ summit In Budapest, Hungary in the coming weeks.
High on the agenda during Zelenskiy-Trump meeting was Washington’s possible supply of Tomahawk missiles However, during the bilateral lunch held in the presence of media, Trump signaled he was not ready to send the long-range missiles to Ukraine, saying “we would rather Ukraine does not need them.” Trump argued the the US might need Tomahawks itself. However, Trump did not directly denied Zelenskiy’s request for Tomahawks. Later Zelenskiy told the US media that he was positive about the purchase of Tomahawks as President Trump did not said no to Kyiv’s request for these missiles. With a range of over 2,000 kilometers, Tomahawks missiles could enable Ukraine hit Moscow and escalate the conflict.
