Ukraine, Trump: 'I told Zelensky as well as Putin that it is time to stop the war'

Zelensky has long been pressing for weapons that would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deep into Russian territory. "We'll talk about it," Trump said at the start of the meeting in the Cabinet Room. As to the question of whether Putin with the meeting in Hungary is just trying to stall, the US president said that "it's possible" but that "I think he wants an agreement".

Zelensky believes that attacks deep into Russian territory would help force Putin to take more seriously Trump's calls for direct negotiations to end the war. And the Tomahawks in this context are crucial since they have a range of about 1,600 kilometres. What he has in mind is a kind of swap: cruise missiles for drones. "We have drones but we don't have Tomahawks, that's why we want them" and "the US has both these and other missiles, but they can have our gifts, that's why we can work together," he said, "we have a great proposal with our drones."

Not only that, according to Ukrainian sources, Zelensky may offer to store US liquefied natural gas in Ukrainian gas storage facilities, which would allow the US to be present in the European energy market.

The one staged at the White House will be the sixth face-to-face contact between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. Below is a brief account of previous face-to-face meetings between the two leaders.

February 2025. Trump - who had been back in the White House for about a month - and his deputy Jd Vance, in front of the cameras of half the world in the Oval Office, had very harsh words towards Zelensky, accusing him of having "no respect", so much so that he had to leave. April 2025. Surprisingly, the two met in the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral. It was the first meeting after the disastrous summit in the Oval Office. A sort of thaw that put the relationship between Washington and Kiev back on track.

Il vertice della Nato a L’Aia fa da cornice al terzo faccia a faccia tra i due presidenti. Durante una conferenza stampa, Trump ammise che raggiungere un accordo di cessate il fuoco in Ucraina si stava rivelando “più difficile” del previsto. Zelensky sembrò soddisfatto dell’incontro e il capo della Casa Bianca lanciò l’idea di fornire all’Ucraina ulteriori difese aeree. Agosto 2025. Dopo il vertice di Ferragosto tra Trump e Putin in Alaska, che, tuttavia, non portò risultati concreti sulla tregua, Zelensky e i leader europei si precipitarono alla Casa Bianca per riconquistare il favore del tycoon. Settembre 2025. Trump e Zelensky si riunirono all’Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite. Dopo l’incontro, Trump pubblicò un post sui social media sostenendo che Kiev avrebbe potuto “riconquistare l’intera Ucraina nella sua forma originale”.

According to the Financial Times, the EU proposes to use part of the EUR 140 billion loan secured by frozen Russian assets to buy US arms for Ukraine. The bulk of this loan would be used for arms purchases, according to a Commission document detailing the deal, seen by the Financial Times, as well as to support Ukraine and European defence industries. Although the preference for European arms was introduced at the request of France, the Commission added that 'cooperation with international partners who commit to providing substantial additional support' to Ukraine could be envisaged. The proposal aims to use arms deals to keep the US on its side, diplomats and EU officials said.

The indiscretion comes on the day of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, scheduled for 7pm (Italian time) in the Cabinet Room for a lunch.

Also recorded today was the Kremlin's openness to a new summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin: 'It could indeed take place within two weeks or shortly thereafter,' confirmed Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that 'there is a general understanding' and 'nothing should be postponed in the long term'.

Ahead of the summit with Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Kremlin spokesman reported.

The Kremlin says that the preparation for the possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, will be done "in stages", Tass reports. "There are many issues: it is necessary to set up negotiating teams," Putin's spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, according to the official Russian news agency, adding that "everything will be done in stages".

"The idea is for Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Rubio to start working on the issue," Peskov said. "First they will phone each other and meet, discuss the whole issue, all the issues, and start discussing them."

"We want to be clear about the International Criminal Court: our position has always been clear and we are happy to reiterate it here. The EU supports the International Criminal Court and the principles enshrined in the Rome Statute. We respect the independence and impartiality of the Court. We are firmly committed to international criminal justice and to the fight against impunity."

This was said by the European Commission's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Anouar El Anouni in the daily press briefing, responding to a question about Hungary's obligation to execute the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin at the summit with Trump. "And here I would like to recall the Council Conclusions of 2023, in which the Council called on all states to ensure full cooperation with the Court, including through the swift execution of outstanding arrest warrants, and to enter into a voluntary agreement," he remarked.

"Having said that, another issue raised here was that of the withdrawal from the Court: the withdrawal will come into effect one year after notification to the Depositary, in Hungary. We would like to make it clear that it has no effect on a state's obligation to cooperate in relation to investigations and proceedings initiated before that date," he points out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are included in the sanctions "on asset freezing, but not specifically on travel bans". "The meeting has not been confirmed and we will not comment on hypothetical scenarios, but if it does in fact happen, there are no travel bans per se". European Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said this about the possible Trump-Putin meeting on EU soil. As for the ICC arrest warrant there are "potential waivers that member states can grant, but these waivers have to be issued by member states individually".