Washington: President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are meeting Tuesday ahead of Sen Lindsey Graham’s funeral, their second sit-down this month and after a far-right activist with the US president’s ear had a widely publicised change of heart on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Trump is welcoming Zelenskyy to the White House as the Ukrainian leader travels to Washington to honour Graham, whose final act as a public official was visiting Kyiv and securing an agreement on a package of sanctions that seek to punish countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other exports.
Zelenskyy said in a social media post shortly after his arrival in the US that his “number one priority” is “anti-ballistic defence and strategic cooperation with America.”
“Peace needs to be brought closer,” said Zelenskyy, who walked into the White House Tuesday morning. A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview a closed meeting, said Trump will focus on the “ongoing peace process” between Russia and Ukraine.
In a Fox News Channel interview Tuesday, Trump recalled Graham’s hawkishness and said the Republican South Carolina senator’s support for Ukraine never wavered. Trump said Graham had suggested it was time to make a deal with Iran but no similar suggestion for the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Ukraine he’s very militant about,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.” “I mean, Lindsey liked war, to be honest with you.”
Zelenskyy is now being bolstered by an unusual source: Laura Loomer, known primarily for her incendiary social media posts and her influence with the Republican US president. Travelling through Ukraine, Loomer has witnessed Moscow’s barrage firsthand and interviewed Zelenskyy while admitting she was “bamboozled by Russian propaganda.”
Loomer said she spoke to Trump after she met with Zelenskyy in Ukraine last week, and she expects to meet with the US president once she returns from her trip.
“It’s looking good for Ukraine, right?” Loomer said during an interview with The Associated Press. “Going into this meeting next week at the Oval Office is looking pretty good.”
Ahead of the meeting, Zelenskyy has also warned that Russia has been aiding Iran as the war persists by capturing satellite imagery of US bases in the Gulf region that later appear in Iran. The Ukrainian president also asserted that there was a “clear correlation” between Russia’s images and subsequent Iranian strikes.
“The purpose is clear,” Zelenskyy said earlier this month. “None of us in the world should turn a blind eye to one very simple fact: Evil always seeks ways to make things worse and spread further.”
On Monday, Trump downplayed any impact of potential Russian assistance for Iran.
“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he travelled to Michigan. “And if they have, it has been very un-impactful.”
Still, he said he would raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy has a busy itinerary during his latest visit to Washington. Besides his White House meeting, Zelenskyy will head to the Capitol to meet with senators on Tuesday evening after Graham’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting who was not authorised to discuss it publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Republican leadership is hoping to advance Graham’s sanctions legislation this week, although the Senate is juggling several other priorities before lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess.
The bill has dozens of backers from both major political parties and is seen as the main policy tribute to Graham, who died unexpectedly this month from a tear in his aorta. It imposes tariffs on goods from the world’s top five purchasers of Russia oil or natural gas, including China and India.
The legislation also includes sanctions against Putin; senior Russian political and military leaders; and Russian financial institutions and energy projects.
Trump met with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit earlier this month in Ankara, Turkey, and announced that the US will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot air defence systems, a long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.
The air defence systems are expensive to make and are in high demand. Noting that he and Zelenskyy have “actually developed a good relationship,” Trump said that the US will help Ukraine produce the Patriots and that the country would be able to produce them “pretty quickly.
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