Zelenskyy says meeting with Trump in White House was productive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office was "good" and thanked the American leader for joint actions aimed at protecting Ukrainian lives and pursuing peace. Zelenskyy added on Telegram that the two leaders discussed licences for producing Patriot interceptor missiles in Ukraine, a step announced earlier this month by the Trump administration.

The talks also covered attempts to revive diplomatic initiatives to end the more than four-year-long conflict with Russia. The meeting, which lasted just over an hour, was held on the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Trump at the White House.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that both encounters were "positive and productive." Zelenskyy arrived in the United States for Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral and is scheduled to meet Finnish President Alexander Stubb and a bipartisan group of senators as the Senate prepares to vote on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctions Act.

The United States and Ukraine are also advancing a deal on joint drone production, with Kyiv planning to manufacture six to seven million short-range attack drones this year. The cooperation follows a marked improvement in relations after a tense meeting between the two leaders in February 2023.