KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — 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 the Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine — and emphasized what he said is continued American interest in economic deals with Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said Trump reneged on the possibility of sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine, which would have been a major boost for Kyiv, following his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin hours before the Ukrainian leader and American president were to meet on Friday.
“In my opinion, he does not want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Sunday. His comments were embargoed until Monday morning.
Ukraine is hoping to purchase 25 Patriot air defense systems from American firms using frozen Russian assets and assistance from partners, but Zelenskyy said procuring all of these would require time because of long production queues. He said he spoke to Trump about help procuring these quicker, potentially from European partners.
According to Zelenskyy, Trump said during their meeting that Putin's maximalist demand — that Ukraine cede the entirety of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — was unchanged.
Zelenskyy was diplomatic about his meeting with Trump despite reports that he faced pressure to accept Putin’s demands — a tactic he has kept up since the disastrous Oval Office spat on Feb. 28 when the Ukrainian president was scolded on live television for not being grateful for continued American support.
Zelenskyy said that because Trump ultimately supported a freeze along the current front line his overall message “is positive” for Ukraine.
So far, Zelenskyy said he has not been invited to attend but would consider it if the format for talks were fair to Kyiv.
“We share President Trump’s positive outlook if it leads to the end of the war. After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with him and his team, his message, in my view, is positive — that we stand where we stand on the line of contact, provided all sides understand what is meant,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy expressed doubts about Hungary's capital of Budapest being a suitable location for the next Trump-Putin meeting.
“I do not consider Budapest to be the best venue for such a meeting. Obviously, if it can bring peace, it will not matter which country hosts the meeting,” he added.
Zelenskyy 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 also expressed skepticism about Putin’s proposal to swap some territory it holds in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine surrenders all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“We wanted to understand exactly what the Russians meant. So far, there is no clear position,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he thinks that all parties have “moved closer” to a possible 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,” Zelenskyy added.
He said the United States is interested in bilateral gas projects with Ukraine, including the construction of an LNG terminal in the southern port city of Odesa. Other projects of interest to the U.S. include those related to nuclear energy and oil.
An earlier version of this story has been corrected to show that the referenced Trump-Zelenskyy meeting in Oval Office was on Feb. 28, not in March.
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