Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to meet with Trump at the White House on Friday

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, according to an administration official, a Western official and a Ukrainian embassy spokesperson.

Trump appeared to confirm the meeting as he spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One upon returning from the Middle East. Asked if he would host Zelensky on Friday, Trump replied: “I think so, yes.”

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Olga Stefanishyna, confirmed that Trump invited Zelensky to a meeting this week, Ukrainian Embassy spokeswoman Halyna Yusypiuk said. The Financial Times had already reported on this visit.

Trump said earlier Monday that the United States was considering approving Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine, adding that they would constitute “a new step of aggression” in its war against Russia. Providing long-range missiles would mark a new level of U.S. support for Ukraine in the war.

“We can’t do it, but we can do it,” Trump said in separate remarks to reporters. on Air Force One. “I think it’s appropriate to talk about it – yeah, I do. I want to see the war settled.”

Trump also said he and Zelensky discussed the possibility of Ukraine obtaining Tomahawks over the phone over the weekend.

“We’ll see,” he said.

Ukraine could theoretically use the long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the United States against any arms supplies, saying this month that it would constitute “a new qualitative stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States.”

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian official and former president and prime minister, also said the delivery of Tomahawk missiles “could end badly for everyone, and first of all for Trump himself.”

Zelenskyy will visit on the heels of Trump’s trip to the Middle East, where he was praised for his role in promoting a peace deal that led to Hamas’s release of still-living hostages and Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners.

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s office chief, said on Monday on X that Ukrainian officials were on their way to Washington for “high-level talks.” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and top national security official Rustem Umerov are part of the delegation, he said.

The talks were aimed “at strengthening Ukraine’s defense, ensuring our energy resilience and intensifying sanctions pressure against the aggressor,” Yermak said.

Zelensky last visited the White House in mid-August, days after Trump and Putin met in Alaska. Zelensky was joined by a group of prominent European leaders, who served as diplomatic reinforcements after a tense Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky in February.

Last week, first lady Melania Trump said she had an “open channel of communication” with Putin over the “well-being” of Ukrainian children allegedly kidnapped and taken to Russia. She wrote a letter to Putin in August, when Putin and President Trump met in Alaska, calling on him to protect “the innocence of these children.”

During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed he could end the war in Ukraine quickly, even within 24 hours. But during his first months in office, he said that while he initially thought the war in Ukraine might be the “easiest” war to end, Putin “let me down.”