Oct. 17 (UPI) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump began discussing Ukraine‘s defense against Russia Friday afternoon at the White House.
The two presidents are meeting to discuss a possible allocation of long-range Tomahawk missiles and other weapons to help Ukraine in its defense against Russia, according to NBC News.
Trump also is expected to discuss his Thursday phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin while meeting with Zelensky.
The White House visit is Zelensky’s third since Trump became president in January and is the first to discuss the possible deployment of weaponry capable of striking deep inside Russia and targeting that nation’s energy infrastructure, The HIll reported.
Trump and Putin agreed to a tentative summit in Budapest, Hungary, sometime in the near future.
Zelensky said Moscow was “rushing” to resume negotiations after Trump suggested Monday that he was thinking of sending the ball into Russia’s court by threatening to send Ukraine the missiles unless the war was brought to a conclusion.
“We hope that the momentum of curbing terror and war, which worked in the Middle East, will help end the Russian war against Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
“Putin is definitely not braver than Hamas or any other terrorist. The language of force and justice will definitely work against Russia as well. We already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue, just hearing about ‘Tomahawks,'” he added.
However, Trump appeared to back away from the Tomahawk issue following a call with Putin on Thursday, saying he had concerns about running down U.S. stocks.
“We need them too … so I don’t know what we can do about that,” Trump said.
The lunchtime Oval Office meeting comes a day after Trump hailed “great progress” made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Delegations from both sides were due to meet next week to prepare for a summit between the two leaders in Hungary.
The contact, the first direct communication with Putin since August, was initiated by Moscow, two days after Trump said he was considering supplying Kyiv with Tomahawk missiles.
The missiles have a 1,500-mile range, which would enable Ukraine to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg.
On Thursday, Zelensky met with representatives of U.S. defense and energy companies, including Raytheon, which makes the Tomahawks, and Lockheed Martin.
He said they discussed ramping up the supply of air defense systems, the Patriot missile system in particular, Raytheon’s production capacity, cooperation to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense and long-range capabilities, and the prospects for Ukrainian-American joint production.
Ukraine’s energy resilience was the main topic of discussion with the energy firms in the face of an increasing Russian tactical focus on hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches.
“Now, as Russia is betting on terror against our energy sector and carrying out daily strikes, we are working to ensure Ukraine’s resilience,” Zelensky said.