U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, October 17th. The meeting was their sixth one since Trump returned to office in January and the third White House visit for Zelensky. The talks followed a recent phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The two leaders met for a media availability in the Cabinet Room, where Trump greeted Zelensky warmly, joking about his stylish outfit—a marked shift from their more contentious meeting in February. Zelensky congratulated Trump on brokering a ceasefire in the Middle East and said, “I think you have the momentum to finish Russia’s war against Ukraine.” While maintaining that Putin is “not ready,” the Ukrainian president said, “I think with your help, we can stop this war.”
Trump also expressed optimism about reaching a resolution to the war and his plans for a future summit with Putin in Budapest. He said choosing Budapest as the location for the meeting was “because we like Viktor Orbán; he’s a good leader … it’s a safe country … it doesn’t have a lot of the problems that a lot of other countries have.”
Answering a media question about whether Zelensky would be part of the Budapest meeting, Trump said, “To be determined, but I would say most likely it’s going to be a double meeting, but we will have the president, President Zelensky, in touch.” He said there’s a lot of “bad blood with the two presidents … these two leaders do not like each other, and we want to make it comfortable for everybody.”
During the session, Zelensky urged the U.S. to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles to “push Putin to the negotiation table.” Trump said, “We’re going to be talking about it,” but “hopefully we’re going to get the war ended without thinking of Tomahawks.” The long-range missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km, could reach Moscow—and beyond—from Ukrainian territory.
The Ukrainian president also proposed an agreement involving technology swaps for Ukrainian-made drones. While Trump showed interest, he avoided making firm commitments, citing concerns about escalating the conflict. During Thursday’s phone call, Putin warned the U.S. president that providing Tomahawks wouldn’t change the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield but would “cause substantial damage to the relationship between our countries.”
The meeting between the two presidents continued behind closed doors and was expected to cover, among other things, joint drone production, frozen Russian assets, and protecting Ukraine’s energy grid from Moscow’s strikes.
