WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday discussed reviving peace talks with Russia and plans for Ukraine to produce Patriot missile interceptors, then attended the funeral of a US senator who had been one of Kyiv’s most vocal backers.
Zelensky met Trump privately in the Oval Office before a service honouring Senator Lindsey Graham in the afternoon. He also held talks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb at a Washington hotel and met with US senators at the US Capitol.
The whirlwind visit offered Zelensky a chance to shore up US military support for Ukraine when relations are warmer than they have been in months. The US, however, has been sitting on aid for Kyiv and Graham’s death means the loss of one of Ukraine’s most influential advocates in Washington.
Zelensky told reporters that he emphasized Ukraine’s need for anti-ballistic missile systems and interceptors during his meetings with Trump and the senators, while welcoming new US legislation advancing sweeping Russian energy sanctions.
Zelensky told reporters that Ukraine had drones that could destroy Iranian- and Russian-built drones but needed more weapons to defend against ballistic missiles fired by Moscow.
“The real problem is anti-ballistic systems and anti-ballistic missiles,” he said after a meeting with senators at the US Capitol. “And of course, I (shared) what we need.”
Earlier, on Telegram, he said that he had a “good meeting” with Trump and they had discussed the US leader’s promise at a Nato summit this month to grant Ukraine a license to produce its own Patriot missile interceptors.
As Russia has stepped up its air attacks, Ukraine has run chronically low on supplies of Patriots, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.
“We talked with the president about licenses for producing interceptors for the Patriots and other ideas that could help,” Zelensky said, without providing further details.
“We also talked about diplomacy – it is important to step up the diplomatic process,” he said, referring to stalled peace talks with Russia to end the war, now in its fifth year.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have agreed to visit Ukraine for the first time as part of the effort to kick-start their mediation efforts with Russia, according to two sources familiar with the talks. The two have visited Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times since Trump returned to office in January 2025.
Zelensky said last week he had spoken with the pair about the prospects for renewed talks. No specific date was set for a visit, one of the sources said.
Separately, Zelensky said he had met with officials from Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons maker and one of the companies that produces Patriot interceptors. He said that teams were already working on solutions “to move to co-production as quickly as possible.”
Zelensky’s visit came after a letter from the Pentagon to lawmakers showed the Trump administration has told Congress it will not finish spending US$400 million authorized for aid to Ukraine until fiscal year 2029.
Democrats and some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have criticized the Pentagon for sitting on aid for Kyiv that members of both parties backed last year.
Zelensky and Trump clashed repeatedly early in Trump’s second term, but relations between the two have improved in recent months as Ukraine has racked up more successes in the war, including with increased attacks on Russia’s oil industry.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died suddenly of a heart ailment on July 11 at age 71, was one of Trump’s most visible allies. He was a defence hawk who regularly called for an interventionist US role on the world stage and strongly backed Ukraine.
He met with Zelensky in Kyiv only a day before his death, the 10th time he had visited Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
