Zelenskyy Tells Trump Ukraine Will Trade Thousands Of Drones For Tomahawks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told President Donald Trump on Friday that his country would trade thousands of drones for tomahawks with the United States.
Zelensky visited the White House for a meeting with Trump a day after the US president spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war. The Ukrainian president told reporters in front of Trump that he would be open to trade with the United States. Trump said he preferred to end the war before tomahawks were needed. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump Outlines ‘America First’ Plan to Help Ukraine End War, Casts Putin-Zelensky Meeting in Doubt)
“Tthe hat THE issue. We need tomahawks. And We need A plot of other things that We have has been sending on THE last four years has Ukraine,” Trump said when asked whether the United States needed such weapons for future conflicts. “We have has been, You know, We gave We gave them A plot. NOW We to have A different situation. We send he has THE European Union. They pay For he, all that, And they to have a lot of money. But We — just beyond THE money, You know, We need tomahawks.
“And We need A plot of other weapons that were sending has Ukraine. And ohborn of THE reasons We to want has get This war on East Exactly that. IIt is not easy For We has give – You are talk about massive Numbers of very powerful weapons,” Trump continued.SO It is A of THE things GOOD be talk about. Hopefully they won’t need he. Hopefully GOOD be able has get THE war on with without thought about tomahawks. »
Zelensky then followed up on the president’s remarks by suggesting they would trade U.S. drones for Tomahawks, arguing that the United States should need both.
“But the United States has very large production and the United States has tomahawks and other missiles, very powerful missiles, but they can have our thousands of drones. That’s why we can work together, where we can strengthen American production,” Zelenskyy said.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy chimed in, clarifying that Zelensky was suggesting a trade, then asking Trump what he thought of the proposal and whether he would be interested in Ukrainian drones.
“We are, yes,” Trump began. “We have a lot of drones right now. We build our own drones, but we also buy drones from others, and they make very good drones. The drone war has really come to the forefront in the last couple of years because of this war. I will say there’s nothing like jets.”
The president then spoke about American jets, including B-2 bombers.
“You never know what’s going to happen… So we’re going to talk about tomahawks, and we would much rather they didn’t need tomahawks. I would much rather the war be over, to be honest. Because, you know, we’re here to end the war. We don’t – we sell a lot of different types of weapons, as you know, to the European Union. We’re not here for that. We’re here to put an end to it,” the president continued.
Trump argued that the war in the Middle East was “much more complicated” and that because he was able to achieve that, he has hope for the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Before the meeting between Trump and Zelensky, the president and Putin agreed to meet in Budapest, Hungary, following a first round of diplomacy between Russian advisers and U.S. officials, Deputy Secretary of State Marco Rubio, next week.
“I actually believe that success in the Middle East will help us in our negotiations to end the war with Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said Thursday on Truth Social. “President Putin thanked First Lady Melania for her commitment to children. He was very grateful and said it would continue. We also spent a lot of time talking about trade between Russia and the United States when the war with Ukraine is over.”
