US President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday. This meeting took place when Trump had talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin on phone a day earlier. Both meetings are being seen as an important effort towards ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump not ready to give Tomahawk
However, Trump also made it clear that he is not in favor of giving Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. He said, ‘We want to end this war, because it is not easy for us to give weapons in large quantities. Hopefully this war will end like this, without the need for Tomahawk. Trump further said, ‘Our objective is not to sell weapons, but to end the war. We don’t want them to need Tomahawks.
Trump’s comment indicated that he wants to avoid any military provocation that could increase tensions with Russia. In fact, a few days ago Putin had warned that if Ukraine was given long-range missiles, the situation could worsen and peace talks would become more difficult.
Trump again spoke about Zelensky’s clothes
During the meeting, the two leaders also discussed energy cooperation, including Ukraine’s proposal to store US liquefied natural gas (LNG) in its storage facilities. The atmosphere appeared quite comfortable during the meeting. Trump also joked about Zelensky’s ‘stylish jacket’, harking back to their previous tense meeting in February.
Zelensky thanked Trump for his efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Middle East and said, ‘With your support we can stop this war. Their army and economy are weakening, and this is a decisive time.
Trump’s knowledge on Russia-Ukraine war
After the meeting, Trump wrote on his social media platform ‘Truth Social’, ‘Now the time has come for both the countries to stop where they are. Both should claim their respective victories and let history decide. No more blood, no more death… everyone should return to their families.
This statement of Trump clearly shows that he is avoiding giving offensive weapons like Tomahawk missile to Ukraine because instead of escalating the war, he is working on a strategy to end it quickly. Whereas Zelensky said that ‘Russia is afraid of Tomahawks because it is a very powerful weapon.’ But Trump’s emphasis remained on the fact that the direction of the war should be decided not by weapons but by talks.