Asked by reporters outside the West Wing if he thought he could convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, Trump said,"Yes, we can."

The two leaders then started a working lunch.

"It's an honor to be with a very strong leader, a man who has been through a lot and a man I got to know very well and with whom we got along really, really well," Trump said at the very beginning of the working lunch and added:

"Yesterday we had an important conversation, as you know, with President Putin and we will talk about it," he continued.

Trump praised Zelensky, saying he had"suffered a lot" during the war in Ukraine.

"Honestly, we stuck it out with him," Trump said.

"It's been a long time and I think we're making a lot of progress. That's why we're going to talk about it today."

Trump: "It's an escalation"

Trump said that he plans to discuss with Zelensky about new capacities that would allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia.

"We'll talk about it," Trump said when asked if new capabilities would be discussed."It's something we'll talk about. You're right. It's an escalation, but we'll talk about it."

Trump did not specifically mention the Tomahawk issue, but US-made long-range missiles are expected to be at the center of today's talks.

He pointed out that he thinks that the Russian president"wants to end the war".

"I talked to him yesterday for two and a half hours, we went through a lot of details," Trump added.

Zelensky: Putin is not ready for the end of the war

Zelensky congratulated US President Donald Trump on reaching a peace agreement for Gaza, saying it could be a"momentum" for ending the war in Ukraine.

At Trump's invitation to speak at the opening of a working lunch at the White House between the two leaders, Zelensky said:"I congratulate you on the successful ceasefire in the Middle East."

"I think this is a momentum to end Russia's war against Ukraine."

The Ukrainian leader said he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not ready" for peace, but added:"I am confident that with your help we can stop this war."

Zelensky also said that bilateral security guarantees for Ukraine are "the most important thing for the people of Ukraine."

When asked what concessions Zelensky is willing to make in order to end the war, the Ukrainian leader said:"First of all, I think we should sit down and talk. The second point, we need a ceasefire."

"The most important thing for people in Ukraine, who are exposed to attacks every day, is to have really strong security guarantees. NATO is the best, but weapons are very important. Allies on our side are very important," said Zelensky.

The Ukrainian leader added:"We want peace, Putin doesn't. That's why we need pressure on him."

Trump on meeting with Putin

The US president said that the upcoming meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, will be dedicated only to those two countries, but he noted that the US will be in contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"It will be a double meeting," Trump said."But we will be in touch with Zelensky. There is a lot of bad blood between the two presidents, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that."

Cession of territory

Trump did not offer a position on Friday on whether Ukraine would have to cede territory as part of a peace deal with Russia, the latest in a series of shifting opinions on the issue.

"You never know," he said."War is very interesting. You never know. You just never know with war, war and peace, but you never know."

The US president has shown his reluctance to deliver Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying:

"One of the reasons we want to end this war is... it's not easy for us to give you... massive amounts of very powerful weapons... We hope they don't need them. We hope we can end the war without thinking about Tomahawk missiles. We're going to talk about Tomahawk missiles and we'd much rather they didn't need those missiles. Frankly, we'd much rather the war ended. Because, you know, we're in it to end war... We sell many different kinds of weapons, as you know, to the European Union. We're not in it to end the war," he continued.

"We have a lot of destructive weapons. I'd rather not use them," Trump said.

Trump: I like to solve wars

Trump declared that "the president is a mediator" and added that he "likes to solve wars".

"I am mediating in a situation that is not easy. It is much easier when people understand each other, when they come together, when they love each other. We do not necessarily have that situation," he told reporters.

Trump then spoke about his mediation efforts in various conflicts around the world.

"This is number nine. Okay, this will be my ninth case. I've solved eight, including the Middle East... I didn't win the Nobel Prize... so I'm not interested in that kind of thing. I'm just interested in saving lives. But this will be number nine," he said.

He added that the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and the USA"must meet".

Zelensky was asked about his relationship with Trump, to which he said that the two"have important dialogues".

"I think we're starting to understand each other. I know the president (Trump, ed.) is very well informed about the situation on the ground and knows a lot about what's going on in Ukraine. I think it really helps when you know the details."