WASHINGTON — President Trump dubbed himself the “mediator president” while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, telling reporters he hoped Ukraine would not need Tomahawk missiles to end its war with Russia — as Zelensky floated a deal to supply the US with unmanned aircraft in exchange for weapons.
Trump warmly welcomed Zelensky to the White House for the third time this year, but stopped short of making any public commitments to supply new arms to Kyiv and indicated he’s no longer sure about his pronouncement last month that Ukraine will reclaim its prewar borders, though he did say such an accomplishment was “possible.”
“I am the mediator president. I am mediating. It’s not an easy situation,” Trump told journalists during a half-hour Q&A session in the White House Cabinet Room.
The US president, seated across from his Ukrainian counterpart, insisted that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to end the war,” but acknowledged that “it’s possible” the autocrat actually is stringing him along to buy time.
“I’ve been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well,” Trump said. “So it’s possible, yeah — a little time, it’s all right. But I think that I’m pretty good at this stuff. I think that he wants to make a deal. I made eight of them. I’m going to make a ninth.”
The meeting came one day after Trump’s phone call with Putin in which the leaders agreed to meet in the coming weeks in Budapest, Hungary, following a prior summit in Alaska on Aug. 15.
Trump said Friday he does not believe Putin will want Zelensky will take part in the upcoming sitdown because they “have tremendous bad blood.”
Still, following a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Trump said he was confident that Putin is prepared to end his nearly four-year invasion — even though similar efforts sputtered last month when Putin balked at a Trump-demanded meeting with Zelensky.
“I think President Putin wants to end the war, or I wouldn’t be talking this way,” Trump said.
“I think he wants to end the war. I spoke to him yesterday for two-and-a-half hours. We went through a lot of details. He wants to get it ended. I think that President Zelensky wants to get it ended. Now we have to get it done.”
Moments later, however, Zelensky told Trump gently that “Putin is not really, I think, not ready, but I think I’m confident that with your help, we can stop this war.”
Zelensky asked Trump to push Putin to agree to a cease-fire — something that the US president once fervently pushed but has spoken little about since his summer summit with the Russian leader.
The Ukrainian leader’s primary ask of Trump Friday was expected to be powerful Tomahawk missiles that would put targets across much of Russia within range of remotely launched attacks from Kyiv’s territory.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get the war over without thinking about Tomahawks,” Trump said, though he indicated he may reconsider.
“We’re going to be talking about Tomahawks,” the US president confirmed, “and we’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks.”
Zelensky, meanwhile, volunteered that Ukraine has proposed exchanging its drone technology for American weapons.
Asked for his thoughts,Trump acknowledged that Washington and Kyiv have been discussing such an exchange, but did not say whether Tomahawks were specifically part of the weapons the US may send.
”They make a very good drone,” Trump said of Ukraine.
“Drone warfare has really come to the fore over the last couple of years because of this war. I will say there’s nothing like the jets. You know, we knocked out a lot of drones in Israel.”
In one apparent pivot, Trump indicated he was no longer certain that Ukraine can reclaim “all” of its land currently held by Russian forces.
“You never know. You know, war is very interesting. You never know, do you? Just never know with war, war and peace,” he said when a reporter asked about his prior assessment.
Trump wrote in a Sept. 23 Truth Social post that “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
He previously had urged Zelensky to give up territory in any potential peace deal.
Despite Trump and Zelensky publicly differing in their perceptions of Putin and the need to supply up more powerful munitions, the meeting was notably cordial.
Trump greeted Zelensky with humor and compliments as they prepared for private discussions, including praising the Ukrainian leader’s wardrobe as he ditched his wartime outfit for a suit in a show of respect.
Zelensky “looks beautiful in this jacket, beautiful. I hope people notice,” Trump said as he welcomed his guest.
“It’s a good — it’s actually very stylish. I like it.”
Trump also was good-humored when a journalist asked about a Russian proposal to build a tunnel to Alaska — floated Thursday by Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who claimed that “a Putin-Trump tunnel connecting the Eurasia and Americas” could be built for under $8 billion.
“I just heard about it — a tunnel from Russia to Alaska. I just heard about that one. That’s an interesting one. We’ll have to think about that,” Trump said.
“But this came up yesterday, a tunnel from Russia to Alaska. That’s an interesting one — what do you think of that, Mr. President? Do you have any ideas? How do you like that idea?”
“I’m not happy with this,” Zelensky replied, to which Trump laughed and responded: “I don’t think you’re going to like it! I don’t think he likes it!”
