 "Trump hosts Zelenskyy at White House, says giving Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine ‘premature’")
US President Donald Trump suggested Friday it would be premature to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying as he hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he hoped to secure peace with Russia first.
Zelenskyy arrived with top aides to discuss the latest developments over a working lunch, a day after Trump held a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the conflict in Ukraine.
The meeting comes a day after Trump announced a fresh summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin – and cast doubt on giving Kyiv the powerful cruise missiles.
“Hopefully they won’t need it. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks,” Trump told journalists as the two leaders met at the White House.
Ukraine has been lobbying Washington for Tomahawks for weeks, arguing that they could help put pressure on Russia to end its brutal three-and-a-half year war.
Trump added that he was confident of getting Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war following a phone call with President Putin a day earlier.
The US and Russian presidents agreed on Thursday to a new summit in the Hungarian capital Budapest, which would be their first since an August meeting in Alaska that failed to produce any kind of peace deal.
“I think that President Putin wants to end the war,” Trump said.
But Zelensky, who wore a dark suit for his third meeting with Trump in Washington since the US president’s return to power, demurred, saying that Putin was “not ready” for peace.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsUkraine has been lobbying Washington for Tomahawks for weeks, arguing that the missiles could help put pressure on Russia to end its brutal three-and-a-half year invasion.
But on the eve of Zelensky’s visit, Putin warned Trump in a call against delivering the weapons, saying it could escalate the war and jeopardize peace talks.
Trump said the United States had to be careful to not “deplete” its own supplies of Tomahawks, which have a range of over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles).
Trump also said he would meet with Putin in Hungary “within two weeks or so” to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Welcoming Zelenskyy outside the West Wing, Trump greeted the Ukrainian president before the start of the working lunch. Invited to speak first, Zelenskyy congratulated Trump on the Gaza ceasefire.
“Congratulations with your successful ceasefire in the Middle East. I think this is momentum to finish Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy added that Russian President Putin is “not ready” for peace but expressed confidence that with US support, the war can be ended. “I’m confident, with your help, we can stop this war,” he said.
‘Many questions’
Diplomatic talks on ending Russia’s invasion have stalled since the Alaska summit.
Ukraine had hoped Zelensky’s trip would add more pressure on Putin, especially by getting Tomahawks, which have a range of over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles).
But Trump, who once said he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, appears set on pursuing a new diplomatic breakthrough to follow the Gaza ceasefire deal that he brokered last week.
The Kremlin said Friday that “many questions” needed resolving before Putin and Trump could meet, including who would be on each negotiating team.
But it appeared to brush off suggestions Putin would have difficulty flying over European airspace.
Hungary said Friday it would ensure Putin could enter and “hold successful talks” with the US despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes.
“Budapest is the only suitable place in Europe for a USA–Russia peace summit,” Hungarian President Viktor Orban said on X on Friday.
Trump frustration
Zelensky’s visit to Washington, Ukraine’s main military backer, will be his third since Trump returned to office.
During this time, Trump’s position on the Ukraine war has shifted dramatically back and forth.
At the start of his term, Trump and Putin reached out to each other as the US leader derided Zelensky as a “dictator without elections”.
Tensions came to a head in February, when Trump accused his Ukrainian counterpart of “not having the cards” in a bombshell televised meeting at the Oval Office.
Relations between the two have since warmed as Trump has expressed growing frustration with Putin.
But Trump has kept a channel of dialogue open with Putin, saying that they “get along.” The US leader has repeatedly changed his position on sanctions and other steps against Russia following calls with the Russian president.
Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.
Kyiv and its European allies say the war is an illegal land grab that has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and widespread destruction.
Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory – much of it ravaged by fighting. On Friday the Russian defense ministry announced it had captured three villages in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.
With inputs from agencies
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