Trump Confronts Zelenskyy, Pushes for a Deal to End the War
President Donald Trump made ending the Russia-Ukraine war his priority at the White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The conflict has cost huge numbers of lives and wrecked large areas of eastern Ukraine.
Fresh off brokering a fragile ceasefire in Gaza and speaking with Vladimir Putin, Trump invited Zelenskyy for a direct, high-stakes meeting. The goal was to force a realistic pathway out of open-ended fighting.
Trump called the session “cordial” on social posts, but multiple accounts say it grew heated and, at times, confrontational. Those conflicting impressions quickly spread, setting off debates in Washington and among allies.
Zelenskyy pushed for long-range Tomahawk missiles to pair with drones so Kyiv could strike deep inside Russia and change the battlefield picture. He argued such capabilities would hit bases, factories, energy nodes and command centers to improve bargaining power. Zelenskyy — who in the day with representatives of Raytheon, the manufacturer of Tomahawk missiles — said Kyiv could trade advanced drones for the weapons.
Trump pushed back, arguing the U.S. should retain critical weapons and warning that supplying Tomahawks risked dangerous escalation. Some accounts say he cursed during the exchange; others disagree. His central message was blunt: seek a deal to stop the killing rather than hand over systems that widen the war.
“I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL! Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts.”
“They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!” continued Trump. “No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent.”
https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1979057326364451073
A European official briefed on the meeting said Trump told Zelenskyy “if [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you.” That stark admonition framed the administration’s push for a quick end to the bloodshed.
Not all reports matched that tone. One EU diplomat said it was “not as bleak as reported,” while two Republican policy experts judged the session “a dud for the Ukrainians rather than a disaster” and “it wasn’t a bad meeting, just a victim of poor timing and inflated expectations.”
At one point Trump reportedly brushed aside a battle map, saying the sight made him “sick.” He added, “This red line, I don’t even know where this is.”
Russia occupies roughly 20 percent of Ukraine, including much of the Donbas and parts of other regions, and those gains have hardened the front lines. Analysts say Moscow has advanced but still faces a difficult path to capture the remaining strategic ground in Donetsk.
Two senior officials said Putin has told Trump he would only stop if Ukraine surrendered Donetsk, a stance Zelenskyy rejects. After the meeting Zelenskyy told reporters Putin had asked Trump to “withdraw from the Donbas — not the entire east, but specifically the Donbas, that is, completely from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
He said he “made it clear” to Trump “that Ukraine’s stance in this context remains unchanged.” Zelenskyy added that “Trump wants a quick victory — an end to the war — and that would be a victory for all reasonable people.”
“Putin, however, wants the total occupation of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy warned, and in a separate address declared, “We will give nothing to the aggressor.” That political reality makes concessions a steep sell at home.
‘Zelenskyy was very negative.’
In a TV interview Trump said, “[Putin is] going to take something. I mean, they fought, and he has a lot of property. I mean, you know, he’s won certain property.” He also reporters, “We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines.” On the Donbas he added, “I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia. You leave it the way it is right now.”
