Zelenskyy says Trump meeting ‘positive’
KYIV Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his reportedly tense meeting with U S President Donald Trump last week was positive even though he did not secure Tomahawk missiles for the fight against Russia In comments to journalists on Sunday and embargoed until Monday morning Zelenskyy asserted that Trump reneged on the possibility of sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine after speaking by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin hours before Friday s meeting Trump on Friday called on Kyiv and Moscow to stop where they are and end the war In my opinion he does not want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them Zelenskyy disclosed According to Zelenskyy Trump reported during their meeting that Putin s maximalist demand that Ukraine cede the entirety of its eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions was unchanged Zelenskyy expressed skepticism about Putin s proposal to swap particular territory it holds in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine surrenders Donetsk and Luhansk saying the proposal was unclear Ukraine s leader explained Trump ultimately supported a freeze along the current front line We share President Trump s positive outlook if it leads to the end of the war Zelenskyy mentioned citing a large number of rounds of discussion over more than two hours with him and his unit Zelenskyy was diplomatic about his meeting with Trump despite reports that he faced pressure to accept Putin s demands The meeting followed the disastrous Oval Office spat on Feb when the Ukrainian president was scolded on live television for not being grateful for continued U S patronage Later on Monday Trump communicated reporters that Ukraine could still win the war I don t think they will They could still win it I never announced they would win it he reported Anything can happen you know war is a very strange thing Zelenskyy disclosed he hopes that Trump s meeting in the coming weeks with Putin in Hungary which does not endorsement Ukraine will pave the way for a peace deal Their first summit of Trump s current term was in Alaska in August Zelenskyy stated he has not been invited to attend but would consider it if the format for talks were fair to Kyiv He also took a stab at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban saying he does not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution Zelenskyy declared he thinks that all parties have moved closer to a viable end to the war That doesn t mean it will definitely end but President Trump has achieved a lot in the Middle East and riding that wave he wants to end Russia s war against Ukraine he added Ukraine is hoping to purchase Patriot air defense systems from U S firms using frozen Russian assets and assistance from partners but Zelenskyy declared procuring all would require time because of long production waits He announced he spoke to Trump about help procuring them more briskly potentially from European partners
