Zelenskyy visits Trump at White House, seeks US cooperation

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are meeting Tuesday. Zelenskyy is in Washington DC to attend the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham.  Se, Graham’s final act as a public official was visiting Kyiv and securing an agreement on a package of sanctions that seek to punish countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other exports.

This is the second sit-down this month between the two leaders. Trump met with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit earlier this month in Ankara, Turkey, and announced that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot air defense systems, a long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.

Zelenskyy said in a social media post shortly after his arrival in the U.S. that his “number one priority” is “anti-ballistic defense and strategic cooperation with America.” Zelenskyy has also warned that Russia has been aiding Iran as the war persists by capturing satellite imagery of U.S. bases in the Gulf region that later appear in Iran. The Ukrainian president also asserted that there was a “clear correlation” between Russia’s images and subsequent Iranian strikes.

A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview a closed meeting, said Trump will focus on the “ongoing peace process” between Russia and Ukraine.