Zelenskyy has a 'good meeting' with Trump at the White House as he seeks more cooperation with US - AP News

What the report says

The Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Tuesday at the White House, ahead of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral, for their second in-person discussion this month. Zelenskyy described the Oval Office session, which was closed to reporters, as a good meeting. AP said the leaders discussed ways for Ukraine to produce powerful weapons domestically, along with other possible steps to assist Kyiv in its war with Russia.

The meeting followed a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, earlier in July, where Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air defense systems. Kyiv has long sought stronger air defenses to counter Russian missile attacks. AP framed the two meetings as a sign of warmer ties between Trump and Zelenskyy after earlier tensions in Trump’s second term.

Zelenskyy’s Washington visit also included activity on Capitol Hill. AP photos and captions showed him speaking with Sens. Richard Blumenthal, James Risch, Roger Wicker and Mark Kelly after a meeting of bipartisan leaders connected to the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. He also attended Graham’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral, where AP documented exchanges with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The talks matter because U.S. military cooperation remains central to Ukraine’s defense more than four years after Russia’s 2022 invasion. AP noted that the Trump administration has also been heavily focused on the Middle East, while the Ukraine war has increasingly intersected with broader security concerns involving Russia and Iran.