Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has said he discussed air defences during a “good meeting” with Donald Trump at the White House, a day after visiting the UK where the Prime Minister pledged continued support.
Mr Zelensky also said the pair had spoken about the need for “reinvigorated” peace talks with Russia, with the war sparked by Moscow’s invasion now in its fifth year.
Following the talks, Mr Zelensky attended the funeral of the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who he hailed as “a true friend of Ukraine”.
One of Mr Graham’s final acts before his unexpected death had been to visit Kyiv and secure cross-party support for a package of sanctions that targeted countries buying Russian oil, gas and other exports.
Mr Zelensky confirmed in a post on X following the private meeting, that they had discussed the US president’s recent pledge at the Nato summit to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missile interceptors as well as “several other ideas that could help”.
Permission to make the defence system had been a long-running request by the Kyiv government to counter Russian rocket attacks.
Mr Zelensky added: “We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.”
Posting on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said: “Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well.”
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Zelensky had warned that Russia was providing Iran with satellite images to carry out strikes on US bases in the Gulf region, although Mr Trump downplayed any impact of potential Russian assistance for Iran.
The face-to-face talks represent a significant turnaround in relations between the two leaders, after Mr Trump had previously described Ukraine’s president as a “dictator” and last year’s Oval Office clash where Mr Zelensky was publicly berated for being ungrateful for American support.
Mr Zelensky also watched on as the US Senate voted to move forward on the sanctions legislation against Russia.
Mr Trump also held discussions on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of Mr Graham’s funeral.
The meeting was closed to the press, but Mr Netanyahu described it as “excellent” in a video on Instagram.
He said the two men had “a conversation with full partnership, with mutual support, with an understanding of the common goal of ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and other goals as well”.
White house press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X: “Both meetings were positive and productive!”
Mr Zelensky had flown to Washington after he was hosted by Andy Burnham at Portsmouth naval base.
The Prime Minister said it was “no accident” the Ukrainian president was his first international guest since taking office and said the UK could be counted on “for as long as it takes”.
