The White House offered only a brief comment about the “productive” Oval Office talks, which were closed to the press
President Donald Trump hosted Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in the Oval Office on Tuesday, with US officials sharing no details about what was discussed during the roughly hour-long meeting behind closed doors.
Trump himself had posted nothing about the meeting on Truth Social more than six hours after the talks ended.
The only official White House comment came in a brief post by press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said “both meetings were positive and productive,” referring to Trump’s sit-downs with Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, Zelensky claimed on X that he and Trump “discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help.” He added that they “also spoke about diplomacy” and said he was “grateful to the United States for its firm support.”
Later in the day, Trump, Zelensky and Netanyahu attended a memorial service in Washington for the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime Russia hawk and one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in the US Congress, who met Zelensky in Kiev shortly before his death.
Trump and Zelensky last met earlier this month on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Türkiye, where they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses and potential peace talks. After the meeting, Trump said Washington would grant Kiev a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, while adding that the US would not supply the weapons directly and that European NATO members should finance military aid to Ukraine.
Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly criticized Zelensky, at one point calling him a “dictator without elections” and “ungrateful” for American support, while arguing that Ukraine may ultimately have to cede territory to Russia to end the conflict. Zelensky, however, has continued to press Washington for more military assistance.
The Trump administration has also warned Kiev against targeting non-Russian vessels after a Chevron-chartered tanker carrying Kazakh oil was struck by a Ukrainian drone near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk last week.
Kiev has relied heavily on Western weapons supplies throughout the conflict, while repeatedly urging its backers to provide additional Patriot systems and interceptor missiles amid continued Russian strikes on military-related targets across Ukraine. Moscow says the strikes are being carried out in response to terrorist attacks by Kiev against energy infrastructure and civilians inside Russia.
The meeting comes after Kiev launched another major overnight drone attack on Moscow, sending more than 390 UAVs toward the Russian capital. While no casualties have been reported, the regional authorities said several residential buildings were damaged.
Reuters reported last week, citing a Ukrainian source, that Washington and Kiev had been discussing a proposed air ceasefire to present to Moscow as part of a renewed push to revive stalled peace talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, cast doubt on whether the report is true, adding that Moscow had received no concrete proposal.
Russia has warned that continued deliveries of Western arms make NATO members de facto participants in the conflict and risk triggering an all-out war.
