Zelenskyy’s comments are in contrast to reports that Trump berated the Ukrainian leader and pushed him to concede territory to Russia. What we know on day 1,336
Zelenskyy has painted his meeting last week with Trump as a success that yielded progress on acquiring new air defence systems, a contrast from reports that Trump had berated him with obscenities in the White House. In comments to the media on Sunday that were embargoed until Monday, the Ukrainian president described Trump’s message at the meeting as “positive”, even though Zelenskyy did not secure Tomahawk cruise missiles. As a result of the visit, Ukraine is now preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defence systems in a major boost to its defences, Zelenskyy said. He was speaking before reports that Trump had pushed Zelenskyy to give up territory during their meeting, which sources described as more tense than initially disclosed.
Zelenskyy will travel to London on Friday for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” before the expected Trump-Putin summit in Hungary, amid mounting European disquiet over Ukraine’s exclusion from the Budapest meeting, Peter Beaumont reports. Zelenskyy said the aim of the London visit was to win security guarantees for Kyiv and there would be “many meetings and negotiations in Europe” this week. On Thursday Zelenskyy will travel to Brussels to attend a summit of the European Council, Reuters reported.
