WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House on Friday, hoping to secure more weapons to end the war in Ukraine. It’s unclear if President Trump will give them the long-range missiles Ukraine is requesting, which Ukraine could then strike deep inside Russia.
“Ukraine has such thousands of our production drones, but we don’t have tomahawks” said President Zelenskyy at a meeting with President Trump. “The United States 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.”
During a bilateral meeting between the President Trump and President Zelenskyy, Zelenskyy is looking to get long-range tomahawk missiles. President Trump acknowledged that tensions could escalate with Russia if they were to give these weapons to Ukraine, but that’s all part of their talks. Following the meeting, Zelenskyy did not say if the President agreed to give Ukraine the weapons.
“So many people have died in this war and we’re gonna get it ended,” said President Trump during the meeting.
Just days after the President visited the Middle East after securing the first steps in a peace deal with Israel and Hamas, Zelenskyy said he believes the President can help do the same for Ukraine.
“I think this is momentum to finish Russia’s war against Ukraine,” said Zelenskyy. “I think that we understand that Putin is not ready — I think not ready — but I think that I’m confident that with your help we can stop this war.”
Following the meeting between the two leaders, the President took to social media saying both Russia President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy need “to stop the killing, and make a deal”. Zelenskyy said in order to end the war, a ceasefire must happen first.
“We need to have security guarantees because I’m afraid, and our country is afraid, we will have a ceasefire we need security guarantees that Putin will not come again with aggression,” said Zelenskyy.
On Thursday, Trump said he spoke with Putin. They plan on meeting in Budapest in the near future. It’s unclear if Zelenskyy will be part of the meetings between the pair. The date for that meeting has not been set yet.