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Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the White House on Friday without a US agreement to send Ukraine Tomahawk missiles, after Donald Trump said the “dangerous” weapons could worsen the war.
The US president had signalled willingness in recent weeks to send the long-range missiles to Kyiv, but changed tack on Friday, saying that he did not want to escalate the conflict or drain US stockpiles.
“Tomahawks are very dangerous weapons,” Trump told reporters in the White House ahead of his meeting with Zelenskyy. “It could mean escalation. Tomahawks are a big deal.”
“Hopefully, we will be able to end the war without thinking about Tomahawks,” he said. “We are fairly close to that.”
Trump’s apparent reversal came a day after he spoke by phone with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, when the two leaders agreed to hold a summit in Budapest.
The US president’s latest meeting with Zelenskyy came after months of shuttle diplomacy by European leaders to secure Trump’s backing for Kyiv amid fears that he would wind down American aid for Ukrainian forces.
The overtures had worked in recent months. Behind the scenes, US intelligence has helped guide Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, while Trump had openly expressed frustration with Putin.
Zelenskyy said that the conversation with Trump about supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would continue despite the lack of agreement on Friday.
“Nobody cancelled this dialogue, this topic. So we have to work on it more,” he said. But asked whether he was optimistic that the US would supply the missiles, Zelenskyy said: “I am realistic.”
Aside from the Tomahawks, Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he and Trump had discussed Ukraine’s need for more air defence systems, Trump’s call with Putin, and Kyiv’s request that Washington underpin any peace deal with security guarantees.
But the meeting ended without any new public promises of support from the US president.
Trump said the meeting with Zelenskyy had been “cordial”, but urged Kyiv and Moscow to end the war.
“I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Immediately after the meeting, Zelenskyy held a prescheduled call with European leaders including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.
Kyiv’s requests for more military aid come after more than three-and-a-half years of fighting to end Russia’s invasion. Moscow has bombarded the country in recent months despite Trump’s claim — which he repeated on Friday — that Putin wants to end the war.
Zelenskyy believes Tomahawk missiles could help Ukrainian forces strike distant Russian military and energy targets with greater precision, forcing Putin to the negotiating table.
Russia was “afraid” of the missiles, Zelenskyy said in Washington, because Kyiv could use them in “combination” with its long-range strike drones, which have damaged some Russian energy facilities in recent months.
Military experts, however, have said that the weapons are unlikely to be a game-changer on the battlefield.
The meeting was Zelenskyy’s third in the White House this year. His first, in the Oval Office in February, broke down into an ugly argument in front of the cameras, as US vice-president JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader and Trump told him he did not “have the cards” to win the war.
The mood on Friday was more friendly and Zelenskyy expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to end the war.
“We understand that Putin is not ready,” Zelenskyy said. But he added that he was “confident” Trump could help shift “momentum to finish Russia’s war against Ukraine” after helping to secure the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin in recent months, but has held off imposing any direct consequences on Moscow in an effort to draw the Russian leader to the negotiating table.
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