During his visit to Washington , Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his American counterpart Donald Trump with a golf club that belonged to a war veteran, the Ukrainian presidency announced today.
The Ukrainian president presented the US president with a golf club given to him by a sergeant in the Ukrainian armed forces, Kostyantyn Kartavtsev, according to a press release posted on the Ukrainian presidency's website.
The Ukrainian officer had his leg amputated in the first months of the Russian invasion, the press release states, and used golf as a means of rehabilitation.
Zelensky offered this stick to Trump on the sidelines of a joint meeting with European leaders who came to Washington to support Ukraine in order to promote a peace agreement after three years of Russian invasion.
According to the Ukrainian presidency, Donald Trump accepted the gift, thanked the Ukrainian veteran and gave Zelensky the symbolic keys to the White House.
This cordial meeting contrasts with one in February, when President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance sought to publicly humiliate the Ukrainian leader.
In a video released today by the United by Golf Club, of which Kostyantyn Kartavtsev is a member, Donald Trump addresses the Ukrainian veteran, thanking him for his gift, a putter, that is, a club that allows light hits in order to put the ball in the hole.
President Zelenskyy gifted US President Trump a golf club from Ukrainian soldier Kostiantyn Kartavtsev, who lost his leg saving comrades in 2022 and used golf in his recovery.
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— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) August 19, 2025
It's fantastic. It was made with a lot of love and you gave it to me with a lot of love, the American president says, from the Oval Office, holding the club. I will use it every time I make a putt. I will think of you, he assured.
"Your country is a great country. We're going to try to bring it back, to help it. And your president is working very, very hard to do that," Trump added.
Below the video, the club wrote that it engraved the following phrase on the club: “Let’s putt peace together!”, a play on words in English that combines putting a ball in a hole and let’s achieve peace together.
Golf is the favorite sport of the American president, who spends a significant amount of time on his courses. Golf diplomacy is already his trademark, as he does not hesitate to welcome his counterparts to luxury golf resorts, in the US or elsewhere.
In July, at his club in Turnberry, Scotland, the American leader struck a trade deal for European exports with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, before later meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the same venue.
