President Donald Trump is hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks at the White House on Friday. The U.S. leader has signaled he’s not ready to agree to sell Kyiv a long-range missile system that the Ukrainians say they desperately need.
Watch Trump and Zelenskyy’s meeting live in the video player above.
It’s the fourth meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump as they’ve sought to resolve Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump spoke separately on Thursday by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and plans to meet with him in roughly two weeks in Budapest, Hungary.
It’s not clear whether Zelenskyy will join Trump’s meeting in Hungary with Putin
“To be determined” Trump said as he met with Zelenskyy in the Cabinet room at the White House. He said it most likely will be a “double meeting,” but that Zelenskyy would be in touch throughout.
READ MORE: How Trump’s rhetoric about Zelenskyy and Putin has evolved, in his own words
Trump said there is “bad blood” between Putin and Zelenskyy.
“These two leaders do not like each other and we want to make it comfortable for everybody,” he said.
Zelenskyy congratulates Trump over landing last week’s ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza
At the start of his talks with Trump, Zelenskyy also said the U.S. president now has “momentum” to stop the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“President Trump now has a big chance to finish this war,” Zelenskyy added.
Trump might not send Ukraine Tomahawks, but there are other weapons that would help Kyiv
In recent days, Trump had shown openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, even as Putin warned against it. Following Thursday’s call with Putin, Trump appeared to downplay the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles.
Although such a sale would be a splashy move, it could take years to provide the equipment and training necessary for Ukraine to use Tomahawks, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
Montgomery said Ukraine could be better served in the near term with a surge of Extended Range Attack Munition, or ERAM, missiles and Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS. The U.S. already approved the sale of up to 3,350 ERAMs to Kyiv earlier this year.
The Tomahawk, with a range of about 995 miles (1,600 kilometers), would allow Ukraine to strike far deeper in Russian territory than either the ERAM (about 285 miles, or 460 km) or ATACMS (about 186 miles, or 300 kilometers).
Zelenskyy wants to interest Trump in an energy deal with Ukraine
The Ukrainian president isn’t just coming to the White House in search of military aid. He also has a business pitch for Trump that revolves around fossil fuels.
Ukrainian officials have indicated that Zelenskyy is looking to offer to store U.S. liquefied natural gas in Ukraine’s gas storage facilities, which would allow for American presence in the European energy market.
Zelenskyy previewed the strategy Thursday in meetings with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the heads of American energy companies. Zelenskyy posted pictures of the meeting on X and said that it is important to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure after Russian attacks and expand “the presence of American businesses in Ukraine.”
