Ukraine’s Zelensky will meet Trump at the White House on Friday
WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, according to an administration official, a Western official and a Ukrainian embassy spokesman.
Ukrainian Embassy spokeswoman Halina Yosybyuk said that Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Olga Stefanyshina, confirmed that Trump invited Zelensky to attend a meeting this week.
The visit, previously reported by the Financial Times, comes as Trump said the United States was considering approving Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine, adding that it would be a “new step of aggression” in that country’s war against Russia. If the administration provides the long-range missiles, it would represent a new level of American support for Ukraine in the war.
“We may not do it, but we may do it,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on Monday. “I think it’s appropriate to bring it up – yes, I want to. I want to see the war over.”
Trump also said he and Zelensky discussed the possibility of Ukraine obtaining Tomahawk missiles over the phone over the weekend.
“We’ll see,” Trump said.
In theory, Ukraine could use long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States against supplying weapons, saying earlier this month that it would represent “a qualitatively new phase of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States.”
Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian official and former president and prime minister of the country, said the Tomahawk delivery “could end badly for everyone, primarily for Trump himself.”
Zelensky’s visit on Friday comes on the heels of Trump’s trip to the Middle East, where he was praised for his role in supporting the peace deal that led to Hamas releasing the remaining hostages alive and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said in a letter to X on Monday that Ukrainian officials were on their way to Washington for “high-level talks.” He added that Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko and senior national security official Rustam Omerov are part of the delegation.
Yermak said in the post that the talks aim to “strengthen Ukraine’s defense, secure our energy resilience and intensify sanctions pressure on the aggressor.”
Zelensky’s last visit to the White House was in mid-August, a few days after Trump met with Putin in Alaska. Zelensky was joined by a group of prominent European leaders, who served as diplomatic support after a tense Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky in February.
Last week, First Lady Melania Trump said she had an “open channel of communication” with President Vladimir Putin regarding the “care” of Ukrainian children believed to have been kidnapped and taken to Russia. first lady Craft a message to Putin in August, when the US and Russian presidents met in Alaska. In her letter, she called on Putin to protect “the innocence of these children.”
During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that he could end the war in Ukraine quickly, even within 24 hours. But during his first few months in office, he said that while he initially thought the war in Ukraine might ultimately be the “easiest,” Putin “let me down.”