By Nandita Bose, Gram Slattery and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country’s war with Russia, but met an American president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Kyiv’s arsenal.
While U.S. President Donald Trump did not rule out providing the long-range Tomahawk missiles Zelenskiy seeks, Trump appeared cool to the prospect as he looked ahead to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a matter of weeks.
Trump’s move to re-engage with Putin, a strategy that has frustrated Kyiv and some European allies in the past, cast a shadow on the U.S. president’s otherwise cordial exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart as they spoke with reporters ahead of a private lunch.
Trump said the two leaders would discuss his call the previous day with the Russian president. He portrayed himself as a mediator between the two warring forces, despite the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
‘GET ALONG A LITTLE’
“I think President Zelenskiy wants it done, and I think President Putin wants it done. Now all they have to do is get along a little bit,” Trump said.
Zelenskiy, however, noted how difficult it has been to try to secure a ceasefire. “We want this. Putin doesn’t want (it),” he said.
The Ukrainian leader was frank, telling Trump that Ukraine has thousands of drones ready for an offensive against Russian targets, but needs American missiles.
“We don’t have Tomahawks, that’s why we need Tomahawks,” he said.
Trump responded: “We’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks.”
Later, Trump reiterated that he wants the United States to hold onto its weaponry. “We want Tomahawks also. We don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country,” he said.
After the talks, which Zelenskiy described as productive, he told reporters he did not want to talk about long-range missiles, saying the U.S. did not want escalation.
He said he was counting on Trump to pressure Putin “to stop this war.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the meeting was “cordial” and that “I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL!”
BACK TO THE TABLE
It was unclear what Putin had told Trump that prompted him to agree to the upcoming meeting. Their August summit in Alaska ended early with no major breakthrough.
The Kremlin said much needed to be decided and that the summit might take place “a little later” than within the two-week period mentioned by Trump.
Trump’s conciliatory tone after the call with Putin raised questions over the near-term likelihood of assistance to Ukraine and reignited European fears of a deal that suits Moscow. A spokesperson for the European Union said it welcomed the talks if they could help bring peace to Ukraine.
Trump was asked on Friday whether he was concerned Putin might be “playing” him for time by agreeing to talks.
“You know, I’ve been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well, so it’s possible,” Trump replied.
The president expressed affection for Zelenskiy, at one point praising him for sporting a dark suit jacket after he was knocked earlier this year for visiting the White House without one.
“He looks beautiful in his jacket,” Trump said. “I hope people notice … it’s actually very stylish.”
WAR HAS INTENSIFIED
Trump, who has campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize, is eager to add to the list of conflicts he says he has been instrumental in ending.
More than 3-1/2 years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has made some territorial gains this year, but Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Thursday that the Russian offensive had failed.
Putin this month said his forces had taken almost 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) of land in Ukraine in 2025 – equivalent to adding 1% of Ukraine’s territory to the nearly 20% already held.
Both sides have also escalated attacks on each other’s energy systems, and Russian drones and jets have strayed into NATO countries.
ANALYSTS SEE TALKS AS DELAYING TACTIC
The White House had seemed in recent days to be increasingly frustrated with Putin and leaning toward granting Zelenskiy fresh support, including the Tomahawk missiles that Ukrainians say would help them inflict more damage to Russia’s war machine.
Several U.S. and Ukrainian officials emphasized before Trump’s meeting with Zelenskiy that no decision had been made, and opinions differed on how Trump would ultimately decide the matter.
Putin’s move appeared meant to make the U.S. transfer of such weapons less likely, said Max Bergmann, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It does seem that Putin’s outreach is perhaps designed to thwart the potential transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine, so Putin is wanting to put that back in the box,” Bergmann said. “It strikes me as sort of a stalling tactic.”
Mykola Bielieskov, a senior analyst at Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization that is a major procurer of military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces, said Tomahawk missiles would level a playing field that is tipped toward Russia, but that they would not be a silver bullet.
“We don’t expect Russia to crumble after one, two or three successful strikes,” Bielieskov said. “But it’s about pressure, constant pressure. It’s about disrupting the military-industrial complex.”
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Nandita Bose, Gram Slattery and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Olena Harmash in Kyiv, Cassel Bryan-Low and Tom Balmforth in London, Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, Bhargav Acharya in Toronto, Anita Komuves in Budapest and Anastasia Lyrchikova in Moscow; writing by James Oliphant; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Colleen Jenkins and Rod Nickel)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.