The US president has acknowledged that allowing Ukraine to conduct strikes deep into Russia would be an escalation
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky have begun talks at the White House. The meeting is taking place after Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, in which the two leaders agreed to have a summit meeting in Budapest, Hungary.
The Ukrainian leader arrived in Washington on Friday at the head of a large delegation. After welcoming Zelensky, Trump told reporters that his call with Putin will be high on the agenda: “We had a big call yesterday, as you know, with President Putin, and we’ll be talking about it.”
Trump added that the two will discuss providing Ukraine with new weapons, while acknowledging that this could escalate the conflict.
“We’re going to be talking about that… It’s an escalation, but we’ll be talking about that,” he said.
Zelensky earlier asked Trump to supply Kiev with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking targets up to 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) away, meaning they could potentially reach Moscow and far beyond.
Russia earlier warned that supplying Tomahawks would “not change the situation on the battlefield,” but would “severely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement” and harm US-Russia relations.
Pivoting to a potential dialogue to end the conflict, Trump said there is a lot of “bad blood” between Putin and Zelensky, and this is holding up a settlement. He added that the Budapest summit would most likely be a “double meeting,” with Zelensky being in touch.
“[Putin] wants to get it [conflict] ended. President Zelensky wants it ended. Now we have to get it done,” Trump said.
Zelensky accused the Russian president of not wanting a ceasefire, adding that his goal in the negotiations with Trump is “to get what we need to push Putin” to negotiate. According to Zelensky, Ukraine is also seeking robust security guarantees. “NATO is the best, but weapon[s] [are] very important.”
Russia has denounced the Western weapons shipments to Ukraine, warning that they only prolong the conflict. It is also strongly opposed to Kiev’s bid to join NATO, describing it as one of the key reasons for the conflict.
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