Ukraine, Trump-Putin talks 'positive and productive': towards meeting in Budapest. Zelensky is in Washington

The phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin lasted more than two hours: this was reported by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, adding that the tycoon thinks it is still possible to bring Putin and Zelensky together.

Zelensky will meet Trump to urge more military support as Kiev and Moscow escalate their war with massive attacks on energy systems and NATO struggles to respond to a series of Russian air raids.

Ukraine is looking for US Tomahawk long-range missiles, which would put Moscow and other important Russian cities within range of Ukrainian missile fire.

The US president has said that he might supply arms to Ukraine if Putin does not sit down at the negotiating table.

The results of the Trump-Putin talks will be on the table at tomorrow's meeting with Zelensky, anticipated by the trip of a Ukrainian delegation led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who is holding talks with US representatives in the US. International attention is all focused on the issue of the possible supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, threatened by Trump and strongly desired by Kiev.

"Putin reiterated his thesis that the Tomahawks will not change the situation on the battlefield, but will cause significant damage to relations between our countries, not to mention the prospects for a peaceful solution," Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said, speaking about the phone call between the presidents of Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, and referring to the possibility of American Tomahawk missiles being supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces. Tass reports.

"A meeting with President Trump is scheduled for tomorrow, and we expect that the momentum of containing terrorism and war, which has been successful in the Middle East, will help to end Russia's war against Ukraine. Putin is certainly no braver than Hamas or any other terrorist. The language of force 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 the Tomahawks." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on X upon his arrival in Washington.

Trump warned, however, that the US cannot 'deplete' its stockpile of Tomahawks, the long-range missiles that Volodymyr Zelensky will demand tomorrow in his visit to the White House.

Zelensky claimed to have done "homework" preparatory to the meeting with Donald Trump. "We have already prepared our part of the homework before the meeting with President Trump - the military part, but also the economic part. all the details. everything is there," Zelensky said in a video message shared on his own social media. "The agenda for our meeting with the US president is very substantial, and I thank all those who help. This can really bring the end of the war closer: it is precisely in the US that there is the possibility of such a global impact, and we are doing everything we can so that others in the world will be on our side in this work," the Ukrainian leader noted.

Zelensky believes that this meeting, also in light of what has happened in the Middle East, can be decisive for the fate of the war in Ukraine. 'We are working for the day of peace to come for Ukraine as well. Russian aggression remains the last global source of destabilisation, and if a ceasefire and peace have been achieved for the Middle East, the leadership and determination of global actors can certainly work for us, in Ukraine, in Europe. And it can be done,' Zelensky said. 'Terrorism always loses when global unity is strong enough,' the Ukrainian leader stressed.

Andrii Yermak, capo dell’Ufficio del presidente dell’Ucraina, ha condiviso gli sviluppi degli incontri che la delegazione ucraina, capitanata dalla primo ministro Yulia Svyrydenko, stanno avendo con i rappresentanti statunitensi negli Usa. «Abbiamo tenuto una serie di incontri con Senatori degli Stati Uniti, incentrati sulla cooperazione in materia di difesa tra Ucraina e Stati Uniti, sull’intensificazione della pressione economica nei confronti dell’aggressore e sul ritorno dei bambini ucraini deportati dalla Federazione Russa», ha affermato Yermak. «Tra i temi affrontati», ha rappresentato il funzionario ucraino, ci sono stati «l’ampliamento della produzione congiunta nel settore della difesa, nell’ambito del cosiddetto Drone Deal; il rafforzamento della difesa aerea e delle capacità a lungo raggio dell’Ucraina, anche attraverso l’impiego dei beni russi congelati; lo sviluppo di progetti relativi ai minerali critici e all’energia».

"We also discussed the strengthening of the sanctions regime," Yermak continued, "in particular, the need to close the loopholes that still allow the Russian war machine to operate and further limit Russia's energy revenues." In addition, the official added, "special attention was paid to the US bill proposing to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism until the return of all Ukrainian children illegally relocated is guaranteed."

The war correspondent of the Russian state agency Ria Novosti Ivan Zuyev was killed in the Zaporizhzhia region and his colleague Yuri Voitkevich was seriously wounded. This was announced by the Russian agency itself, on its website, stating that the reporter 'died during a journalistic assignment due to an attack by a Ukrainian drone'. 'Ivan Zuev worked for Ria Novosti for several years and his professionalism was repeatedly recognised with departmental and state awards. In March he received a presidential commendation,' the agency recalls.

For China, meanwhile, its purchases of Russian oil are "legitimate" and condemns recent measures of "unilateral intimidation" by the US, as the trade dispute between the two countries continues to escalate. Yesterday, US President Donald Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him that New Delhi would stop buying Russian oil and that he would persuade China to do the same. Trump accused both China and India of financing Russia's war against Ukraine through purchases and also called on European allies to immediately stop buying oil from Russia. India has neither confirmed nor denied that it has changed its policy. On Thursday, when questioned about Trump's intention to exert further pressure on the Ci