Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Washington on air defense, long-range capabilities

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on Friday to discuss his country’s air defense and long-range capabilities.

“I hope I'll have (the) possibility to come to Washington and have (a) meeting on Friday with (the US) president,” Zelenskyy told journalists in the capital Kyiv after a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas Monday evening.

He said he will have meetings with "some military companies" in the US, without providing further details, adding that his schedule also includes "certain meetings" with members of the US Congress.

He pointed to air defense and long-range capabilities as the main topics on the visit’s agenda, noting he will also have a meeting with energy companies, which he said was proposed by Trump himself.

Zelenskyy and Trump held two phone conversations -- on Saturday and Sunday, respectively -- and discussed strengthening Kyiv’s air defense and long-range capabilities.

Earlier this month, Trump said he was close to deciding whether to send long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which Zelenskyy said he requested in late September.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced concern over the US sending Ukraine Tomahawks, arguing that this would “destroy” US-Russian ties and lead to a “completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation."