In talks with Zelenskiy, Trump appears to press pause on fresh support
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country’s war with Russia, but met an American president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Ukraine’s arsenal, Reuters reports.
While U.S. President Donald Trump did not rule out providing the long-range Tomahawk missiles Zelenskiy seeks, Trump appeared cool to the prospect as he looked ahead to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks.
After speaking with Zelenskiy for more than two hours, Trump implored both Ukraine and Russia to “stop the war immediately,” even if it means Ukraine conceding territory.
“You stop at the battle line, and both sides should go home, go to their families,” Trump told reporters on his way to his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. “Stop the killing. And that should be it. Stop right now at the battle line. I told that to President Zelenskiy. I told it to President Putin.”
Trump’s move to re-engage with Putin, a strategy that has frustrated Zelenskiy and some European allies in the past, cast a shadow on the U.S. president’s otherwise cordial exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart as they spoke with reporters ahead of a private lunch.
The two leaders then went behind closed doors where they also discussed a call the previous day between the Russian president and Trump, who has portrayed himself as a mediator between the warring forces despite the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Նյութերը գեներացվում են տարբեր կայքերից արհեստական բանականության միջոցով
