Donald Trump is hosting Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine today, a day after the US president announced a new summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest.
The US president will begin a flurry of diplomatic activity on Friday aimed at ending Russia’s invasion, a week after he helped strike a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In a post on X, Zelensky said he would meet with representatives of defence and energy companies ahead of his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
“We expect that the momentum of curbing terror and war that succeeded in the Middle East will help to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president said.
The US president held a two-hour phone call with Putin on Thursday, during which the Russian president congratulated him on the “Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East”.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet with Russian officials next week, followed by a summit between himself and Putin in Budapest on an unspecified date.
Zelensky says Russia ‘on the defensive’ as Trump announces new Putin meet
Volodymyr Zelensky has said the Russian president’s sudden push to meet Donald Trump shows the Russian leader is “on the defensive”.
Speaking in Washington on Thursday, the Ukrainian president said Putin’s eagerness to resume talks was directly tied to Trump’s recent suggestion that the US could send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv.
“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” Zelensky said.
His comments came after Trump confirmed he is planning to meet Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks.
Trump boasts ‘tremendous prospects’ for US-Russia economic cooperation if war were to end
One of Trump’s main arguments for ending the war in Ukraine is that it would allow for strong economic cooperation between the US and Russia, the Kremlin said.
In a statement, Yury Ushakov said: “It is noteworthy that one of the US President’s key arguments centred on the premise that the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine would open up tremendous – and he stressed this – tremendous prospects for the development of US-Russian economic cooperation.”
After Trump and Putin’s meeting, Trump said the pair “spent a great deal of time talking about trade between Russia and the United States when the war with Ukraine is over.”
What is in the EU’s five-year plan to defend against Russian attacks?
The European Union has unveiled four flagship projects to strengthen its defence capabilities against Russia by 2030, as recent airspace violations show that “Europe is at risk”.
The European Commission will submit the ‘Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030’ to EU leaders next week, essentially presenting them with a checklist of equipment to buy, with hopes of encouraging states to decide who will take the lead on projects.
What are the projects?
The European Drone Defence Initiative
As a top priority, the plans include the European Drone Defence Initiative, which aims to build counter-drone capabilities to detect, track, and disable rogue drones. The system is expected to be initially operational by December 2026 and fully functional in late 2027.
The Eastern Flank Watch
The drone system is part of the wider Eastern Flank Watch scheme, which aims to fortify defences along Europe’s eastern border on land, in the Baltic and Black seas, in the sky, and against hybrid operations. It hopes to be fully functional by 2028.
The European Air Shield
The European Air Shield aims to protect member states’ airspace by creating an integrated, multi-layered air and missile defence shield to protect against all Russian air threats.
The European Space Shield
The fourth project is the European Space Shield, which aims to protect space assets and services against growing threats.
US may have to keep Tomahawks for itself, Trump says
Donald Trump has suggested that the US may need to keep its Tomahawk missiles for itself, as Zelensky is expected to push for its supply at their meeting tomorrow.
He said: “Tomahawks. We have a lot of them, but we need them. We can’t deplete” US stockpiles, the BBC reported.
The Russian president has warned Trump that supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would harm peace prospects and damage US-Russia relations, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Trump said: “I did actually say to him, ‘Would you mind if I gave a couple of thousands of Tomahawks to your opposition?’ I did say that to him. I said it just like that. He didn’t like that idea,” according to the BBC.
“You have to be a bit light-hearted sometimes.”
Preparations underway for US-Russia summit, says Hungary’s PM
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said preparations for Putin and Trump’s summit in Budapest were underway.
Posting on X after a phone call with Trump, the president said: “Hungary is the island of PEACE!”
He previously said the meeting was “great news for the peace-loving people of the world.”
Putin congratulates Trump for ‘solving peace in the Middle East’
Moscow rushing to renew dialogue over Trump’s Tomahawk threat, says Zelensky
Zelensky expects the momentum from the ceasefire will help end the Ukraine war as Moscow tries to renew its dialogue after Trump threatened to supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles.
In a post on X, the president said: “Putin is certainly no braver than Hamas or any other terrorist. The language of strength and justice will inevitably work against Russia as well.
“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks.
“There must be no alternative but peace and reliably guaranteed security – and it is crucial to protect people from Russian strikes and assaults as soon as possible.”
‘Putin is not a rational man’, says Farage
Nigel Farage supports shooting down Russian fighter jets that violate Nato airspace, as he calls Putin “a very bad dude”.
“Clearly, Putin is not a rational man,” Farage said in an interview with Bloomberg.
“The idea that I’m soft on this is just nonsense.”
Farage has faced criticism that his stance on Moscow could hurt his chance of becoming Prime Minister.
In the interview on Thursday, he said he would support spending frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, and may even deploy British troops to the country if he were to become PM.
Zelensky arrives in Washington ahead of meeting with Trump
Trump and Putin to meet in next two weeks, says Trump
Trump and Putin will meet in Budapest in the next two weeks, while foreign ministers Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov will speak beforehand.
Speaking at the White House, Trump said: “We have a problem, they don’t get along too well, those two,” Trump says, arguing that this requires separate meetings,” Sky News reported.
“This is a terrible relationship the two of them have.”
