President Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday at the White House, part of a renewed push to end Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine.
Trump, feeling victorious after securing a ceasefire in the Middle East, projected optimism about ending the war that he once proclaimed he could resolve in one day.
“I’m the mediator president, and I’m mediating a not easy situation,” Trump said. “It should be easy.”
The meeting, held as a working lunch with Trump and Zelensky sitting across from each other, was initially carried out in front of the press without any major explosions between the two sides. This was likely a welcome relief after a February Oval Office meeting escalated into a shouting match among Trump, Vice President Vance and Zelensky.
But while Trump previously expressed increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin and confidence that Ukraine could possibly regain all territory occupied by Russia, he tempered his stance Friday.
“I think they’re both doing a great job” at negotiating, Trump said. “We have to get it done.”
Trump appeared to dismiss Ukraine’s push to acquire long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, saying it is not “easy” for Washington to provide the munitions.
“It’s not easy for us to give … you’re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons,” the president told reporters at the White House.
“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 said.
The potential delivery of Tomahawk missiles has become a point of discussion after Trump signaled his openness to sending the weapons to Ukraine last weekend.
Zelensky said Friday that Kyiv would not only rely on the missiles in its war against Russia, indicating that Ukraine could dispatch “thousands” of its drones to the U.S. in a swap for U.S.-made long-range missiles, which are typically launched from submarines and warships.
“But [the] U.S. is a very strong production and the U.S. has Tomahawks and other missiles, very strong missiles, but they can have our thousands of drones,” Zelensky added. “That’s why, where we can work together, where we can strengthen American production.”
Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.
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