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US President Donald Trump welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the White House a few minutes ago. As they settled into the White House, Trump told the media present that it was a great honor to be with a "strong leader" like Zelensky.
Trump further stated that he would speak with the Ukrainian about his call with Vladimir Putin yesterday, as he stressed that great progress is being made to end the war in Ukraine.
" I think we're making great progress. We'll talk about that today. We'll talk about what happened yesterday with my call with President Putin. I think things are going pretty well. It started with Alaska, where I think some guidelines were discussed. And we want to see if we can get that done ," Trump said.
In a meeting that seemed a far cry from the first one when things went sour, Trump took a moment during the meeting to compliment the attire of Zelensky, who appears to have learned from past mistakes.
" I think he looks very nice in his jacket ," said the American president, who during the first meeting in the spring of this year criticized him for showing up to the meeting in a military suit.
Asked by reporters whether he would make concessions to end the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said he was open to discussion about reaching a ceasefire agreement.
" First of all, I think we need to sit down and talk. The second point, we need a ceasefire. Even now that you see in the Middle East, it is very difficult to maintain a ceasefire. I am ready to talk in any format. Bilateral, trilateral: it doesn't matter. Just peace. This is important ," said Zelensky, who added that the provision of bilateral guarantees by the US is the most important document.
Zelensky further suggested that Ukraine could offer the US "thousands of drones" if Washington allows it to use Tomahawk missiles.
" That's why we can work together, where we can strengthen American production. We have a great proposal with our drones ," Zelensky said.
Trump was asked if this proposal from Ukraine was something he would be interested in, to which the US president responded positively,
"Yes, we would be. We have a lot of drones now. We build our own drones, but we also buy drones from others, and Ukraine makes very good drones ," Trump said.
Regarding talks on sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, Donald Trump warned that a Ukrainian attack deep inside Russia would represent an escalation of the war.
Asked by reporters whether he would allow Ukraine to launch an attack inside Russian territory, Trump said the case would be discussed.
" We'll talk about it ," Trump added.
Then, a Ukrainian journalist proposes to Trump that giving Tomahawk missiles to Kiev would balance the battlefield, given that Russia has been using similar missiles since 2022.
Trump called it a fair question and jokingly turned it on the reporter by saying, "That's exactly what he told you to say," pointing at Volodymyr Zelensky.
Finally, there was a question regarding the relationship between the two leaders, Zelensky and Trump, after that scuffle that occurred in February. Zelensky added that their relationship is very good and that they are finally understanding each other.
"I think we are starting to understand each other. I know that the president is very well informed about the situation on the battlefield and he knows a lot about what is happening in Ukraine. I think it helps a lot when you know the details ," Zelensky said.
Reporters also took a dig at President Trump, asking him if Russian President Vladimir Putin was simply buying time by proposing another face-to-face summit with him. Trump said that could be true.
"It's possible. I've been manipulated my whole life by the best of them. But I'm pretty good at these things if he wants to make a deal," Trump concluded./ Pamphlet
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