Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin want an end to the war, White House chief Donald Trump said today at the start of talks with his Ukrainian counterpart. According to Zelensky, however, it is necessary to put pressure on Putin to end the war, and Kiev also needs security guarantees. Trump spoke with Putin by phone on Thursday and is expected to meet with him in Budapest within two weeks. However, according to the American president, a personal meeting between Putin and Zelensky in Hungary is unlikely to take place.
Negotiations at the White House:
Trump also noted at the beginning of a working lunch with Zelensky that supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine would mean escalation, but he would discuss it with Zelensky. In this regard, the American president said that he would perhaps end the war without the Tomahawk missiles.
The personal meeting between Trump and Zelensky takes place 24 hours after the US president's phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. In it, the Russian leader warned, according to his adviser Yuri Ushakov, that the delivery of Tomahawks to Ukraine would significantly damage Russian-American relations and would also constitute an obstacle to a peaceful resolution of the armed conflict in Ukraine.
The Financial Times wrote that the Ukrainian delegation was"very nervous" before the meeting between Trump and Zelensky. According to the report, Ukrainians were more convinced that the US would provide Tomahawks to Kiev before Trump's phone call with Vladimir Putin.
Trump, speaking to reporters shortly after his phone call with Putin, said the US needed the missiles and could not run out of them, even though he had previously said he only needed to ask the Ukrainians what they wanted to use them for. This could be a very unfavorable sign for Zelensky ahead of the talks.
Trump and Zelensky are also expected to discuss the energy crisis that Ukraine has been plunged into by Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure, diplomatic sources said. Zelensky is expected to ask Trump for liquefied natural gas. One of the sources said that in return, he could give American companies access to Ukrainian pipelines and allow them to supply Slovakia and Hungary.
