Zelenskyy to pitch long-range missiles for Ukraine during White House visit

President Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday in Washington to discuss supplying Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk missiles, while also preparing for an unexpected summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has warned that the Tomahawks would be a major escalation.

Mr. Trump announced the surprise summit on Thursday after a two-hour phone conversation with Mr. Putin. The meeting will take place in Hungary within the next two weeks, Mr. Trump said, although an exact date has not been determined. 

Mr. Zelenskyy on Thursday said Mr. Putin was desperate to make a deal with Mr. Trump after learning that the White House was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. 

“Tomorrow, a meeting with President Trump is scheduled — and we expect that the momentum of curbing terror and war that succeeded in the Middle East will help to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he wrote on X. “We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks.”

Following the finalization of the Gaza peace deal, Mr. Trump has signaled that reaching a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine war is his No. 1 foreign policy priority. Still, the prospects of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv are slim amid new air and ground offensives. Additionally, Mr. Putin told Mr. Trump during the Thursday phone call that the delivery of Tomahawk missiles would be seen as a major escalation and hurt future peace negotiations.

Mr. Trump has shifted dramatically in his tone toward his Russian counterpart over the past 10 months. Before his August summit with Mr. Putin in Alaska, Mr. Trump had implied that Ukraine would need to cede some territory in a peace deal. But after the meeting failed to secure a breakthrough, Mr. Trump has taken a harder line on Moscow and has hinted at providing more defensive support to Ukraine. 

Mr. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on the U.S. to deliver the missiles, which would help Ukraine reach critical targets deep in Russian territory. Mr. Trump has been somewhat noncommittal on delivering Tomahawks. While he has previously stated that Ukraine required substantial defense support from the U.S., Mr. Trump voiced concerns about the depletion of the U.S. missile stockpile after his discussion with Mr. Putin. 

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 1,550 miles, a significant upgrade from Ukraine’s current missile capabilities, and can fly at a relatively low altitude to avoid radar detection.  

Ukraine’s navy currently does not have the capabilities to field Tomahawk missiles, and the U.S. only has a few land-based launchers, which defense officials may be wary to hand over. 

Mr. Zelenskyy arrived in Washington on Thursday for a slew of meetings with U.S. defense contractors and energy companies, in which he expressed interest in restoring Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with “the presence of American businesses.”

Ukrainian government officials have implied that Mr. Zelenskyy will use his meeting with Mr. Trump to secure beneficial energy deals that could bring the U.S. into the European energy market and assist Ukraine economically as Russia continues to target its energy infrastructure. 

Friday’s meeting comes as Russia ramps up its offensive operations in Ukraine, both in the air and on the ground. On Thursday evening, Russia launched more than 300 drones and 28 ballistic missiles at energy centers and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Mr. Zelenskyy stated this week that his country has been experiencing severe strikes every night for the past several weeks. 

On the ground, Russian troops have captured and held nearly 2,000 square miles of Ukrainian land this year alone, according to Mr. Putin, who said Ukrainian troops are in the process of retreating all across the front.

Ukraine has retaliated with its own strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure this year and hopes the advent of Tomahawk missiles would help intensify its offensive, especially as the winter months approach. Mr. Zelenskyy has also reported that Ukrainian troops have made significant headway in the Donetsk and Sumy regions.