Zelenskyy has said in the past<\/a> that Ukraine would not \u201cgift their land to Russia,\u201d and ceding land to Moscow requires approval in a nationwide referendum.<\/p>\nTrump and Zelenskyy held a working lunch early Friday afternoon that lasted more than two hours, with Zelenskyy making a call to European strategic partners in the so-called \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d after the White House talks.<\/p>\n
Asked about Trump\u2019s post late Friday, Zelenskyy said that the American president was right that both sides need to \u201cstop where we are, and then to speak,\u201d referring to negotiations.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy also told reporters at Blair House that he believes a ceasefire is the most important first step to ending the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure that we will have negotiations,\u201d he said, adding that Kyiv is counting on President Trump to pressure President Vladimir Putin to halt the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cUkraine didn\u2019t begin this war,\u201d said Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian president came to the White House on a mission to convince the United States to provide Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine that can reach deep inside Russian territory.<\/p>\n
Trump told reporters Friday that he was hesitant to tap into the U.S. supply. The news was a turnabout after days of Trump suggesting that he was seriously considering the idea of sending the missiles to help Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an obligation also to make sure that we\u2019re completely stocked up as a country, because you never know what\u2019s going to happen in war and peace,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n
Asked whether he is optimistic or pessimistic about getting the Tomahawks in the future, Zelenskyy said he is \u201crealistic\u201d about the possibility of Kyiv receiving the missiles. <\/p>\n
Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Defense News on Friday that there are better U.S. weapons to give the Ukrainians that would still provide them with a range on the battlefield between 300-700 kilometers (roughly (186-435 miles), including long range surface-to-surface missiles known as ATACMS and the new and affordable Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) built specifically for Ukraine that launches from F-16 fighter jets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how you put pressure on Vladimir Putin \u2014 weapons that stretch his forces mean that he can never win,\u201d Montgomery said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Moscow during a Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters that if its war on Ukraine does not come to an end, the U.S. and NATO allies would \u201cimpose costs on Russia for its continued aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFirepower, that\u2019s what is coming,\u201d he said in a reference to European nations\u2019 purchases of U.S. weapons for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
There have been very few changes to the front lines this year, according to the Institute for the Study of War, even as Russia continues to target Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Defense News last month, Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) said Russia has only taken 1% of Ukraine in the last two years while suffering heavy casualties on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
Nebraska Republican Representative Don Bacon says the U.S. should immediately arm Taiwan with upgraded weapons as a means to deter Chinese aggression.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy told reporters he stressed the necessity of United States security guarantees during the lunch at the White House on Friday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need strong security guarantees because I\u2019m afraid, and I think that our nation is afraid that if we will have [a] ceasefire, we need security guarantees from [the] United States that Putin will not come again with aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting came a day after Trump held a phone call with Putin to discuss the conflict. The two agreed during the call to meet in Budapest, Hungary, within the next two weeks.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian advocacy groups are skeptical that the meeting will lead to real results, pointing to the recent meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska as evidence that Putin is insincere about peace talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutin\u2019s word is not worth a dime. His offer to meet President Trump in Budapest is classic delay tactics, something we\u2019ve seen time and again,\u201d said Ostap Yarysh, the media advisor for the advocacy group Razom for Ukraine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump has called for Russia and Ukraine to \u201cstop where they are\u201d and quit fighting after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[22705,22702,5606,22704,22701,22703,5607,22712,1551,332,162769,166312,333,2601],"class_list":{"0":"post-508176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-circulated-air-force-times","9":"tag-circulated-army-times","10":"tag-circulated-defense-news","11":"tag-circulated-marine-corps-times","12":"tag-circulated-military-times","13":"tag-circulated-navy-times","14":"tag-defense-news","15":"tag-peace-talks","16":"tag-president-trump","17":"tag-russia","18":"tag-tomahawks","19":"tag-ukraine-russian-war","20":"tag-vladimir-putin","21":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115392472461861762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}