With compliments and smiles, he visited the White House on Friday, in order to ask him for the concession of Tomahawk missiles. However, the American president’s attention was focused on his next meeting with his Russian counterpart, in Budapest.
Upon Zelensky’s arrival outside the White House, Trump nodded to a reporter’s question about whether he thought he could convince Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Before the private working lunch with the Ukrainian president, Trump said the two leaders would discuss the phone call he had the day before with Putin. “Things are going pretty well,” he told reporters.
Zelensky, for his part, noted how difficult it is to achieve a truce. “We want this. Putin doesn’t want it,” he said.
In a post after the meeting, Trump called his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “very interesting and cordial,” noting that he expressed to both him and Vladimir Putin his belief that “it’s time to stop the bloodshed and reach an agreement.”
The American president argued that “enough blood has been spilled” and that the two sides “must stop where they are, both claim victory and let history decide.”
He added that there should be “no more shootings, no more deaths or huge financial costs”, while stressing that “this war would never have started if I were president”. “Thousands of people are being slaughtered every week – enough is enough, go back to your homes and families in peace,” he concluded.
“We need Tomahawk”
On the American side of the table sat Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President J. D. Vance, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine has “thousands of drones” but needs missiles. “, he said. Trump replied: “We will talk about the Tomahawks, but I hope the war will be over before we have to talk about the missiles.”
In fact, Zelensky proposed an agreement to supply drones to the US in exchange for the Tomahawk concession. Donald Trump, responding to a journalist’s question, appeared positive, saying that the idea “interests him” and that “the Ukrainians make very good drones”.
He presented himself as a mediator, reiterating his belief that both sides wanted peace. “I believe that President Zelensky wants the war to end, and I believe that President Putin wants the same. Now all that’s left is for them to find each other,” he said.
Trump spoke of the more than two-hour phone conversation he had with Putin, which he described as “productive.”
It remains unclear, however, exactly what was said and what drove Trump since the previous summit in August in Alaska ended without tangible results. The Kremlin said “much remains to be decided” and that the meeting could take place “somewhat later” than the two-week timeframe that Trump had indicated.
The US president’s conciliatory rhetoric after his meeting with Putin raised questions about whether another delay in US aid to Ukraine was imminent and reignited European concerns about a potential deal favoring Moscow.
Trump, however, did not fail to show his appreciation for Zelensky, praising him for the dark jacket he wore, a reference to a previous visit to the White House when he was criticized for his more “military” look. “I think he looks very handsome in his jacket,” Trump said. “It’s really stylish. I like it.”
🚨 LMAO! How can’t you love this president?
PRESIDENT TRUMP to Zelensky: “I think he looks beautiful in his jacket!”
ZELENSKY: “Yeah?”
TRUMP: “It’s beautiful. I hope people notice – it’s actually very stylish. I like it!” 😂😂
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh)
“The war has intensified”
The US president is seeking to add yet another war to the list of those he says he helped end. More than three-and-a-half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow has made some limited territorial gains, although the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Thursday that the Russian offensive had failed.
Putin said this month that Russian forces would capture nearly 5,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory by 2025 — about 1 percent of the territory, on top of the 20 percent they already control. Both sides have stepped up strikes on energy infrastructure, while Russian drones and fighters have violated the airspace of NATO countries.
In recent days, the White House has appeared increasingly frustrated with Putin’s stance and has moved toward providing Ukraine with new aid, including Tomahawks, which Kiev sees as critical to inflicting more wear and tear on the Russian war machine.
Zelensky commented that Putin, who continued the attacks after his meeting with the US president in Alaska, was “again playing with time”. “We are already seeing that Moscow is rushing to restart dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawk,” he wrote on the X platform.
A delaying maneuver by Putin
As Reuters reports, Putin’s move is aimed at making it less likely that such weapons will be transferred to Ukraine, said Russia expert Max Bergman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It appears that Putin’s initiative is aimed at preventing the transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine,” he said.
“It looks more like a tactic to buy time to me.”
Mykola Bielieshkov, a senior analyst at the Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive, which supplies equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces, said the Tomahawk missiles would help “level the playing field” but were not a “magical solution”. “We don’t expect Russia to collapse after one, two or three successful strikes,” he said. “It’s about pressure, constant pressure. To destabilize the Russian military-industrial complex”.
Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly threatened Russia, but each time has postponed his moves after contacts with Putin.
