Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on October 17 that he would meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. This will be Trump's third meeting with Zelenskyy in Washington since the beginning of the year.
According to Zelenskyy, the negotiations will discuss air defense and Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities.
He also added that he would meet with representatives of American defense and energy companies and members of the U.S. Congress.
According to the Axios portal, citing sources, one of the topics of the Trump-Zelenskyy negotiations could be the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv. "There are some issues that cannot be discussed over the phone," one of the publication's interlocutors said.
Last Sunday, Trump told reporters that during a phone call with Zelenskyy that took place on the days off, they discussed the possibility of the U.S. delivering Tomahawk missiles and Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.
Trump emphasized that he could discuss the issue of delivering Tomahawk missiles with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Do they want Tomahawks flying at them? I don't think so... I told him: if this dispute is not resolved, I will give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine," says the American leader.
Axios notes that long-range missiles would allow Ukraine to target locations inside Russia, including Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously stated that the Kremlin is concerned about the possibility of Tomahawk deliveries to Ukraine because these missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Putin, for his part, emphasized that the use of Tomahawk missiles would require the direct participation of the U.S. military and such an escalation would seriously damage relations between the U.S. and Russia.
