US President Donald Trump said he is speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day before meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion,” Trump posted Thursday on social media.
Trump has expressed frustration with Putin over the Russian leader’s refusal to halt the fighting in Ukraine or meet with Zelenskiy face-to-face for peace talks. Zelenskiy is expected to ask Trump for more advanced weaponry when they meet on Friday at the White House.
Trump has indicated in recent weeks that he is eager to ramp up pressure on Putin to bring the war to an end, pushing US economic partners to cut off purchases of Russian energy and teasing the prospect of allowing Ukraine access to long-range Tomahawk missiles.
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Tomahawks, among the most advanced weapons in the American arsenal, would allow Kyiv’s forces to strike deeper into Russian territory and mark a major shift for a US president who has been focused on bringing about a ceasefire.
The US president previously indicated he would use the Tomahawks as leverage in his conversation with Putin. “I might say, ‘Look, if the war’s not going to get settled, I may send them Tomahawks,’” Trump has said.
Long-range retaliatory strikes against Russia offer to help Ukraine strengthen its hand in any future negotiations. Putin has warned that supplying Tomahawks to Kyiv “would signal the advent of a totally new stage” in the war and in Russia’s relations with the US.
The Putin call and the meeting with Zelenskiy on Friday come on the heels of a major win for Trump after he helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas following two years of fighting. Trump’s administration is now turning its focus to Russia’s war on Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
Trump campaigned on ending Russia’s war on his first day back at the White House, but despite multiple calls with Putin — and a summit in Alaska in August — that goal has proved elusive.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last week that “the powerful impetus generated by Anchorage in favor of agreements has been largely exhausted.”
Putin has shown no signs he is willing to compromise, instead continuing to launch attacks on Ukraine. His forces have targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure in recent weeks to devastating effect with cold winter weather approaching, a bid to demoralize the civilian population. More than half of Ukraine’s domestic gas production was wiped out after a string attacks in October.
In the meeting with Trump on Friday, Zelenskiy is expected to renew urgent pleas for air defense, long-range weapons, as well as assistance in sourcing new energy supplies. At the same time, Zelenskiy is also expected to offer a drone manufacturing partnership and use of the country’s oil pipeline distribution network, seeking to keep the US leader on Ukraine’s side.
Trump and Zelenskiy clashed publicly during an Oval Office meeting in February but ties between the two leaders have improved as the US president has expressed more exasperation with Putin.
Zelenskiy’s US visit will also include meetings with members of Congress and military officials. The Ukrainian leader has said that he will also plan to meet energy company executives at Trump’s urging.
Trump has put the focus on fellow allies in recent weeks, demanding that they cut off Russian energy purchases entirely before he joins them in new sanctions against Moscow, a challenging precondition. Trump has also pushed partners to impose higher levies on China and India, two major buyers of Russian energy.
Trump doubled the tariff on goods from India to 50% to punish New Delhi for importing energy from Moscow. On Wednesday, Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged to halt those energy purchases, though India’s foreign ministry has said it was unaware of that conversation.
