Zelensky Secures Air-Defence Pledges in Trump Talks
President Zelensky held just over an hour of talks with President Trump at the White House, which he called “good” and the administration described as “positive and productive”. The two advanced plans to produce American Patriot air-defence interceptors in Ukraine and moved towards a deal on jointly manufacturing drones. Mr Zelensky thanked Mr Trump for “all that we are doing together” to protect Ukrainian lives.
The co-production plans matter because Ukraine’s cities are under nightly Russian bombardment and Western stocks of interceptors are stretched, while Kyiv already makes millions of drones a year. Mr Zelensky also lobbied senators over a sanctions bill — named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, whose funeral both he and Mr Netanyahu attended — that would impose steep tariffs on buyers of Russian energy, and which Mr Trump wants to extend to Iran. A Senate vote was awaited. The double bill of Mr Trump hosting both leaders made for a consequential day of diplomacy. Watch the sanctions vote and the pace of the co-production deals.