{"id":565165,"date":"2026-07-29T11:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/565165\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:42:15","slug":"trump-zelenskyy-discuss-patriot-deal-and-reviving-talks-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/565165\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump, Zelenskyy discuss Patriot deal and reviving talks with Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday discussed reviving peace talks with Russia and plans for Ukraine to produce Patriot missile interceptors<\/a>, then attended the funeral of a U.S. senator who had been one of Kyiv\u2019s most vocal backers.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy met Trump privately in the Oval Office before a service honoring Senator Lindsey Graham in the afternoon. He also held talks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb at a Washington hotel and met with U.S. senators at the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n

The whirlwind visit offered Zelenskyy a chance to shore up U.S. military support for Ukraine when relations are warmer than they have been in months. The U.S., however, has been sitting on aid for Kyiv, and Graham\u2019s death means the loss of one of Ukraine\u2019s most influential advocates in Washington.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy told reporters that he emphasized Ukraine\u2019s need for anti-ballistic missile systems and interceptors during his meetings with Trump and the senators, while welcoming new U.S. legislation advancing sweeping Russian energy sanctions.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukraine had drones that could destroy Iranian- and Russian-built drones but needed more weapons to defend against ballistic missiles fired by Moscow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real problem is anti-ballistic systems and anti-ballistic missiles,\u201d he said after a meeting with senators at the U.S. Capitol. \u201cAnd of course, I (shared) what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, on Telegram, he said that he had a \u201cgood meeting\u201d with Trump and they had discussed the U.S. leader\u2019s promise at a NATO summit this month to grant Ukraine a license to produce its own Patriot missile interceptors.<\/p>\n

As Russia has stepped up its air attacks, Ukraine has run chronically low on supplies of Patriots, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy later told Fox News\u2019 \u201cHannity\u201d show that Trump had \u201caccepted that he will give us licenses\u201d to produce the interceptors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also talked about diplomacy \u2013 it is important to step up the diplomatic process,\u201d Zelenskyy said after the meeting with senators, referring to stalled peace talks with Russia to end the war, now in its fifth year. <\/p>\n

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, have agreed to visit Ukraine for the first time as part of the effort to kick-start their mediation efforts with Russia, according to two sources familiar with the talks. The two have visited Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times since Trump returned to office in January 2025.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said last week he had spoken with the pair about the prospects for renewed talks. No specific date was set for a visit, one of the sources said.<\/p>\n

Separately, Zelenskyy said he had met with officials from Lockheed Martin, the world\u2019s largest weapons maker and one of the companies that produces Patriot interceptors. He said that teams were already working on solutions \u201cto move to co-production as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relations have improved<\/p>\n

Following Graham\u2019s funeral, the Ukrainian leader spoke for nearly an hour with U.S. senators before entering the Senate chamber to witness a key vote on a bipartisan package of new sanctions on Russia. Graham had long championed the measure and announced Trump\u2019s support just days before his death.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctions pressure on Russia is very important,\u201d he said, saying the legislation would squeeze Russia\u2019s ability to finance the war, while signaling U.S. support for the Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this vote, we are going to show Putin he can\u2019t bully Ukraine,\u201d U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. \u201cAmerica stands behind Ukraine … We are going to back Ukraine, and they\u2019re going to win and beat Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy\u2019s visit came after a letter from the Pentagon to lawmakers showed the Trump administration has told Congress it will not finish spending $400 million authorized for aid to Ukraine until fiscal year 2029.<\/p>\n

Democrats and some of Trump\u2019s fellow Republicans have criticized the Pentagon for sitting on aid for Kyiv that members of both parties backed last year.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy and Trump clashed repeatedly early in Trump\u2019s second term, but relations between the two have improved in recent months as Ukraine has racked up more successes in the war, including with increased attacks on Russia\u2019s oil industry.<\/p>\n

Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died suddenly of a heart ailment on July 11 at age 71, was one of Trump\u2019s most visible allies. He was a defense hawk who regularly called for an interventionist U.S. role on the world stage and strongly backed Ukraine.<\/p>\n

He met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv only a day before his death, the 10th time he had visited Ukraine since Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday discussed reviving peace talks with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[129531,8872,8873,6557,8866,42,38059,43,181610,1593,40,38,41,39,627,1594,6672],"class_list":["post-565165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-air-defense","tag-circulated-defense-news","tag-defense-news","tag-diplomacy","tag-dn-dnr","tag-headlines","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-news","tag-patriot","tag-russia","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-zelenskyy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}