KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had spoken to U.S. President
Donald Trump after his announcement of new weapons for Ukraine and thanked him for his support.
“It was a very good conversation. I thanked him for his readiness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace,“ Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Zelenskiy said he and Trump had agreed to speak more frequently and “continue coordinating our steps”.
He also said he had a very good conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who met with Trump at the White House on Monday. Trump told reporters he was disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin and that billions of dollars of U.S. weapons would go to Ukraine.
He also threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agreed to a peace deal, expressing frustration at repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. But the threat of sanctions came with a 50-day grace period.
The weapons would include Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine has urgently sought.
Zelenskiy had earlier met U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where they discussed boosting Ukraine’s air defences and Kyiv buying weapons with European help.
Trump had said on Sunday that he would send Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine.
“We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe,“ Zelenskiy wrote on X.
“And of course, sanctions against Russia and those who help it.”
Trump, who began his second term with a more conciliatory approach to Russia, has in recent weeks signalled disenchantment with Putin as Moscow has stepped up air strikes on Kyiv and
other Ukrainian cities.
An air-raid alert was declared in Kyiv shortly after the meeting between Kellogg and Zelenskiy on Monday. – Reuters
