U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, where the two leaders discussed prospects for ending the war, military assistance to Ukraine, and a possible arms exchange.
The video of the meeting was broadcast by Sky News.
Trump said he wants to “end this war” and believes that “Putin also wants peace.” “We inherited this conflict from the previous administration. We want to finish it — too many people have died,” he said, noting that he had a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with the Russian president the day before.
Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his support and called the current moment “an important chance to stop Russian aggression.” He said he had met with major American energy and defense companies willing to help Ukraine after attacks on its energy infrastructure.
The Ukrainian president stressed that Kyiv is ready for negotiations “in any format — bilateral, trilateral — the main thing is peace.” He also emphasized that Ukraine needs “strong security guarantees,” saying that “NATO is the best, but not the only” option.
During the discussion on military aid, Zelenskyy proposed an exchange: Ukrainian-made attack drones in return for U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles. “This is about military targets only. We have thousands of our own drones, but we don’t have Tomahawks. The United States has powerful missiles — we can strengthen American production by working together,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump replied that he was “willing to consider” the idea but added: “We need Tomahawks ourselves. It’s a powerful but dangerous weapon. We want to end the war, not keep sending weapons endlessly.”
The U.S. president confirmed that the issue of allowing Ukrainian strikes inside Russia would be “discussed,” acknowledging it as “an escalation.”
Trump also said he was ready to act as a mediator between Zelenskyy and Putin: “There are three presidents — me, Zelenskyy, and Putin. I’m the mediator president. It’s not an easy situation, but we’ll get it done. This will be the ninth war I’ve stopped.”
Zelenskyy, in turn, expressed confidence that Trump “has a chance to end the war,” citing his recent success in brokering a ceasefire in the Middle East.
“President Biden is no longer the president, so he can’t do it. But President Trump has shown he can achieve a ceasefire — now it’s time for peace for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
Concluding the meeting, Trump added: “The Ukrainian and Russian people are great people, and they have much in common. It would be a great honor to end this war.”