Trump assembly Zelenskyy at White Home a day after dialog with Putin

Washington — President Trump is internet hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the White Home Friday, a day after Mr. Trump had a protracted name with Russian President Vladimir Putin and introduced that the 2 leaders will meet in Budapest.

Zelenskyy is asking Mr. Trump for extra army help as the conflict with Russia continues. Lengthy-range missiles sought by Zelenskyy are anticipated to be a spotlight of Friday’s White Home assembly. Mr. Trump has been contemplating sending Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. However he additionally mentioned he’d need to elevate that chance with Putin first, suggesting it may coax Putin to cooperate as Mr. Trump continues to attempt to deliver an finish to the conflict.

Mr. Trump mentioned he mentioned the Tomahawks “a little bit bit” with Putin throughout their cellphone name Thursday. However he appeared to downplay the concept of sending them.

“I’ll say to you, we want Tomahawks for america of America too,” the president mentioned Thursday. “We have now quite a lot of them, however we want them. I imply we will not deplete our nation.”

Mr. Trump had beforehand mentioned the Tomahawks can be a “new step of aggression” within the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The missiles would allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia.

“I’d say ‘Look: if this conflict isn’t going to get settled, I’ll ship the Tomahawks,'” Mr. Trump informed reporters earlier this week. “We could not, however we could do it.”

The final time the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents met in individual was in late September, on the sidelines of the U.N. Common Meeting in New York. Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy spoke twice over the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, forward of Mr. Trump’s whirlwind Center East journey to mark the Israel-Hamas peace deal. 

Russia has given no indication it desires to finish the conflict. And Ukrainian authorities mentioned there had been one other large-scale Russian strike hours earlier than Mr. Trump spoke with Putin on the cellphone. 

“The huge in a single day strike — launched hours earlier than the dialog between Putin and President Trump — exposes Moscow’s actual angle towards peace,” Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna mentioned in an announcement Thursday. “Whereas discussions about ending the conflict proceed, Russia as soon as once more selected missiles over dialogue, turning this assault right into a direct blow to ongoing peace efforts led by President Trump.”

Mr. Trump in current months has expressed frustration with Putin over the failure to finish the conflict, although on a separate entrance, first girl Melania Trump mentioned final week that she has labored with the Russian chief’s group to return Ukrainian kids to their households. 

Mr. Trump mentioned “nice progress was made” in his Thursday name with Putin, though he did not give any particulars.

U.S. and Russian advisers shall be assembly subsequent week in a location that hasn’t been disclosed but forward of the anticipated Trump-Putin assembly. The president indicated that preliminary conferences main as much as the assembly with the Russian chief can be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.