Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his reportedly tense meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump last week was “positive,” though he didn’t secure Tomahawk missiles for the fight against Russia.
In comments to journalists on Sunday and embargoed until Monday morning, Zelenskyy asserted that Trump reneged on the potential for sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine after speaking by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin hours before Friday’s meeting.
Trump on Friday called on Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they’re” and end the war.
“In my view, he doesn’t want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them,” Zelenskyy said.
In accordance with Zelenskyy, Trump said during their meeting that Putin’s maximalist demand — that Ukraine cede the whole lot of its eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — was unchanged.
Zelenskyy expressed skepticism about Putin’s proposal to swap some territory it holds in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine surrenders Donetsk and Luhansk, saying the proposal was unclear.
Ukraine’s leader said Trump ultimately supported a freeze along the present front line.
“We share President Trump’s positive outlook if it results in the tip of the war,” Zelenskyy said, citing “many rounds of dialogue over greater than two hours with him and his team.”
Zelenskyy was diplomatic about his meeting with Trump despite reports that he faced pressure to just accept Putin’s demands. The meeting followed the disastrous Oval Office spat on Feb. 28 when the Ukrainian president was scolded on live television for not being grateful for continued U.S. support.
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Afterward Monday, Trump told reporters that Ukraine could still win the war. “I don’t think they are going to. They may still win it. I never said they might win it,” he said. “Anything can occur, you understand war is a really strange thing.”
Zelenskyy said he hopes that Trump’s meeting in the approaching weeks with Putin in Hungary — which doesn’t support Ukraine — will pave the best way for a peace deal. Their first summit of Trump’s current term was in Alaska in August.
Zelenskyy said he has not been invited to attend but would consider it if the format for talks were fair to Kyiv.
He also took a stab at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, saying he doesn’t imagine that a main minister “who blocks Ukraine all over the place can do anything positive for Ukrainians and even provide a balanced contribution.”
Zelenskyy said he thinks that every one parties have “moved closer” to a possible end to the war.
“That doesn’t mean it can definitely end, but President Trump has achieved so much within the Middle East, and riding that wave he desires to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he added.
Ukraine is hoping to buy 25 Patriot air defense systems from U.S. firms using frozen Russian assets and assistance from partners, but Zelenskyy said procuring all would require time due to long production waits. He said he spoke to Trump about help procuring them more quickly, potentially from European partners.
Zelenskyy said america is thinking about bilateral gas projects with Ukraine, including the development of an LNG terminal within the southern port city of Odesa. Other projects of interest include those related to nuclear energy and oil.
Associated Press author Aamer Mahdani contributed from Washington.
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