Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump will welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday. But he indicated that there was little chance of selling long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv. The Ukrainian side has said that these missiles are necessary for its defense and counter-attack.

The meeting comes a day after a lengthy phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the war in Ukraine in detail. So far, Trump has been open to the possibility of selling Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but Putin has warned that such a move could put serious strain on US-Russia relations.

After the conversation with Putin, Trump’s opinion seems to have changed. Ukraine is asking for these missiles, which can reach a range of about 1,600 kilometers (995 miles), but Trump has indicated that “we need Tomahawks too.” We cannot distribute our necessary weapons in such a way as to weaken our country. ’

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has said that these missiles are needed to strike deep on Russian soil and hit key military sites, power facilities and infrastructure. He believes that such a capability could push Putin toward direct talks to end the war — something Trump himself has put forward as a primary diplomatic goal.

But according to Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, Putin warned Trump that “supplying tomahawks to Kyiv will not change the course of the war, but will cause serious damage to US-Russia relations”.

It was the fourth in-person meeting between Trump and Zelensky since Trump’s return to the presidency in January, and the second in less than a month. After a phone call with Putin on Thursday, Trump said he would soon meet the Russian leader in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss “possible ways to end the war”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Putin’s top advisers will also meet next week at an unspecified location.

Trump, who has brokered a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, is now making ending the war in Ukraine a top foreign policy priority. He said there was a “new confidence and opportunity” in this objective.

But in the last few weeks, Trump’s patience with Putin seems to have waned. Last month, he announced that Ukraine could win back territories occupied by Russia. This was a big change from the previous policy. He has previously called on Kyiv to “end the war through some agreement”.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump vowed to “end the war as soon as possible” when he took office. But his peace efforts appeared to have been temporarily stalled after a summit with Putin in Alaska in August and then a White House meeting with Zelensky and European allies.

However, Trump still believes that the possibility of direct talks between Zelensky and Putin is alive. “Putin and Zelensky don’t get along very well, so we can probably bring them closer through indirect talks,” he said. ’

“Where they are separated, that’s where we can do something — separate but equal efforts,” he said. ’