By Janet Ekstract, NEW YORK – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House was productive but Trump told Zelensky he isn’t ready to supply the Tomahawk cruise missiles Ukraine wants. The Ukrainian leader believes the use of Tomahawks to strike at Russian oil and energy facilities will severely weaken Russia’s economy. Zelensky said that he and Trump made a decision not to publicly discuss the tomahawk issue “because the United States does not want an escalation.” After the meeting, Trump stated on social media that both Ukraine and Russia need to “stop where they are” and end the war. The day before Trump spoke to Zelensky, he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, agreeing to meet him in Hungary. Meanwhile, Trump hasn’t totally ruled out the possibility of providing the weapons but he is more concerned with getting Putin to agree to end the war. As Trump remarked: “Hopefully, they won’t need it, hopefully we’ll be able to get the war over without thinking about Tomahawks.” Though Trump told the press that he thinks Putin is interested in a deal to end the war – he did acknowledge the possibility, as one reporter suggested, that Putin could simply be playing for time. Though Trump admitted that concerned him, he said: “But I’ve been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well. So, it’s possible, a little time, it’s alright. But I think that I’m pretty good at this stuff. I think that he wants to make a deal.”
While Trump said “great progress” was made during a phone call with Putin and that they did agree to meet face-to-face in Budapest – no date was set. When Trump was asked if Zelensky would be involved in the talks with Putin, he said there was too much “bad blood” between Putin and Zelensky, adding, “We want to make it comfortable for everybody.” Trump did acknowledge that the three leaders “have to get together” but he did not explain how or when that might happen. Asked by the BBC if the possible sale of tomahawks to Ukraine prompted Putin to meet Trump, who said “The threat of that [the missiles] is good, but the threat is always there.” Zelensky had suggested Ukraine could offer drones in exchange for the Tomahawks For his part, Zelensky told reporters that he’s “realistic” about what’s on the table with regard to the tomahawks and that he doesn’t know whether Putin is serious about ending the war. But he did add that Russia is “afraid because it is a strong weapon.” Zelensky later posed on X that he called European leaders to share details of the meeting with Trump, adding that the “main priority now is to protect as many lives as possible, guarantee security for Ukraine, and strengthen all of us in Europe.”
