U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (October 17) posted on his Truth Social website that he had told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy it was time to stop the war and to make a deal with Russia, Reuters reports.
Zelenskiy earlier met with Trump in Washington as he looks for weapons to keep fighting his country's war with Russia, but met a president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Kyiv’s arsenal.
While Trump did not rule out providing the long-range Tomahawk missiles Zelenskiy seeks, Trump appeared cool to the prospect as he looked ahead to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a matter of weeks.
Trump's move to re-engage with Putin, a strategy that has frustrated Kyiv and some European allies in the past, cast a shadow on the U.S. president's otherwise cordial exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart as they spoke with reporters ahead of a private lunch.
