Trump seemed to be in good spirits when he received Zelenskyj on Friday evening Swedish time. When they got questions from journalists before the meeting, Trump made it clear that he believes the Russian leader wants to end the war.
I think President Putin wants to end the war.
”Get an end to the war”
This view is not shared by the Ukrainian president, who once again emphasized that Putin must be "pressed" to come to the negotiating table because he is "not ready for peace".
With your help, we can get a stop to the war, Zelenskyj said to Trump.
From Kyiv's side, one has long wished for access to American Tomahawk robots, which would make it possible to strike with force much further into Russian territory compared to today. The meeting between the two presidents was expected to largely revolve around this issue, but Trump did not give any concrete answers despite repeated questions on the topic.
Hopefully, we can get an end to the war without Tomahawks, Trump said.
Trump also weighed in that Putin, whom he spoke to on the phone on Thursday, would interpret the delivery of the weapons to Ukraine as an escalation of the war.
It would mean more escalation, a lot of bad things could happen.
Does not want to talk about it
After the meeting, Zelenskyj told reporters that the issue of long-range weapons was discussed, but says he does not want to make any statements about what was said on the topic because "the USA does not want escalation".
Trump also shared details about the conversation with Putin, according to Zelenskyj.
For us, the signals from Russia are not new. But we trust the president, his pressure on Putin to end this war.
Trump writes on Truth Social that he urged Zelenskyj to "make a deal" with Russia, without mentioning anything about possible robot deliveries.
Conversation with European leaders
After the meeting with Trump, Zelenskyj conferenced with European leaders over the phone.
”Our common goal is still a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. To achieve this, military, economic and diplomatic support as well as security guarantees are necessary”, writes EU Council President António Costa in a post on X after the group conversation.
