Zelenskyy to Meet Trump in Washington on Air Defense, Weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced he will travel to Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump focused on strengthening Ukraine's air defense capabilities and obtaining long-range weapons systems. The scheduled Friday meeting follows two recent phone conversations between the leaders as Ukraine continues its defense against Russian military operations.

"I hope I'll have possibility to come to Washington and have meeting on Friday with the president," Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv following discussions with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The Ukrainian leader confirmed his itinerary includes sessions with US lawmakers and representatives from defense and energy sectors, with the latter proposed personally by President Trump.

Air defense systems and long-range strike capabilities form the central agenda items for the Washington discussions. Zelenskyy's visit comes as President Trump reportedly nears a decision on supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles, a request initially made by Kyiv in late September. The back-to-back weekend phone conversations between the leaders underscored the urgency of these defense consultations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously expressed strong opposition to potential US transfers of long-range missiles to Ukraine, warning such action would "destroy" US-Russian relations and initiate a "completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation." The upcoming Washington meetings occur against this backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions surrounding Western military support for Ukraine.