President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday as the United States considers approving a new weapons shipment to the war-torn nation.
The visit, previously reported by the Financial Times and confirmed this week by NBC News, comes one day after Trump warned Russia that he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles, which would put Moscow in reach of Ukrainian strikes, if it doesn’t settle the war soon. If approved, the shipment would be the first Tomahawk missiles provided to Ukraine since the conflict began.
“We may not, but we may do it. … Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump said on Sunday. “I think it’s appropriate to bring up – yeah, I want to. I want to see the war settled.”
Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting Monday, claiming during a meeting with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas that “the main topics will be air defense and our long-range capabilities, to maintain pressure on Russia,” according to the Associated Press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned earlier this month that the use of Tomahawk missiles would mark a “qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the U.S.”
In a post to Telegram on Monday, Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the delivery of Tomahawk missiles “could end badly for everyone, and first and foremost, for Trump himself.”
The president is returning to the U.S. on Monday after a quick visit to the Middle East, where he gave a speech to Israel’s legislature before joining a global summit in Egypt to map out the details of a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Zelenskyy has visited the White House multiple times since Trump assumed office, most recently alongside a host of European leaders. At the August meeting, seven of Europe’s most powerful leaders spent seven hours debating the logistics of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Since then, little progress has been made in brokering a ceasefire between the two countries.