When President Donald Trump announced plans for yet another sit-down with Russian president Vladimir Putin following a Thursday phone call between the two leaders, it looked like yet another sign that Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky was in for a rough ride when he visited the White House Friday.
Just eight months ago, the Ukrainian president and his delegation were unceremoniously ushered out of the West Wing after an unprecedented Oval Office shouting match that included scolding the wartime leader on his choice of clothing and his supposed ingratitude for the billions Washington has provided in defense aid and financial assistance since Russian troops invaded his country three years earlier.
At the time, Trump berated Zelensky, who’d come to Washington to press for yet more assistance to repel Moscow’s forces from his land, about how the Ukrainian leader was risking “World War Three” by keeping up a fight that he played no role in starting.
It looked as if Trump’s new administration was dead set on pulling the plug on America’s support for Kyiv.
But February seems like forever ago now.
Zelensky flew to Washington Thursday for meetings with some of Trump’s cabinet and multiple American defense contractors before spending the night at the president’s official guest house across from the White House. When he arrived at the West Wing the next day, he was greeted by a smiling president whose mood appeared to have been buoyed by his previous Oval Office guest, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
He and his delegation proceeded to the Cabinet Room, where with cameras rolling Trump introduced Zelensky in glowing terms once reserved for the autocratic leaders he admires — including Putin.
“It’s an honor to be with a very strong leader, a man who has been through a lot,” Trump said.
He added that Zelensky was “a man who I’ve gotten to know very well” and noted that they had “gotten along really very well” in recent months.
“President Zelensky of Ukraine has endured a lot — I mean, he really has,” Trump continued. “He’s endured a lot, and we’ve endured it with him.”
Trump even went so far as to praise the more businesslike wardrobe the Ukrainian leader has adopted since that February disaster, telling reporters that Zelensky “looks beautiful” in the tie-less dark suit and shirt he was wearing and calling his outfit “very stylish.”
Zelensky had come to Washington to ask Trump for U.S.-built Tomahawk missiles — small, pilotless aircraft that can fly upwards of 1,000 miles before striking targets with incredible precision.
Ukraine’s armed forces are desperate for the American-made weapons because they would give Kyiv the ability to strike deep into Russian territory — as far as Moscow or beyond. The missiles would permit Ukraine to retaliate against Russia’s myriad attacks against civilian targets, brazen strikes often carried out with the Russian-built equivalent.
Trump, who has been mostly unwilling to take any action that would be viewed as increasing American involvement in the nearly four-year-old conflict, acknowledged to reporters that providing Ukraine with them long-range weapons would be “an escalation,” but he said the matter would be discussed nonetheless.
He also repeatedly claimed that Putin, in his estimation, still wants to end the war, and said he and the Russian leader had “went through a lot of details” during their two-hour phone call this week.
The president did not say he would be providing Ukraine with the cruise missiles Zelensky has sought. He also stressed that the U.S. needs to have adequate stockpiles for its own use.
But even as he didn’t say yes, he did not say no, either.
Trump even appeared warm to the idea of allowing Kyiv access to the weapons in exchange for Ukrainian-built drone technology developed by the country’s homegrown defense sector — technology that has often allowed Ukrainian forces to punch well above their weight against Russia’s massive military machine.
With a hint of admiration in his voice, Trump hinted at an interest in such a weapons swap and said the Ukrainians “make a very good drone.”
As the question-and-answer session continued, the president still pressed on with his assertion that Putin “wants to end” the war he started without provocation. Trump said he hoped his planned summit in Budapest would make it unnecessary for any provision of Tomahawks to Kyiv.
But he also conceded that there is a possibility he is being “played” by the Russian leader, who, according to the Financial Times, spent a large part of their August meeting in Alaska engaging in “a rambling historical discursion” that left Trump infuriated to the point of raising his voice multiple times and eventually cutting the planned summit program short.
Meanwhile, The Independent understands that Zelensky came to Washington ready to engage Trump with a map-laden presentation showing the American leader exactly how the Tomahawks could be used to inflict terrible blows on the Russian war machine and the Russian oil sector.
The president, according to aides, likes maps. And the more time he spends with Zelensky, the more he appears to like him, too.
Zelensky might not get his Tomahawks today. But little by little, he’s winning Trump’s respect and making him feel like a trusted friend.
And if Trump feels as if Putin is playing him when they meet again in Budapest, there’s no telling what benefits Zelensky could reap from that breach.
