Zelensky hails productive talks with Trump

WASHINGTON, July 30 ------ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a “good meeting” with US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House saying they discussed licenses to produce Patriot air-defense interceptors and ways to revive negotiations with Russia.

Zelensky spent just over an hour with Trump, in talks that came as Kyiv and Moscow intensified long-range strikes and US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled. “Thank you for everything we do together to protect the lives of Ukrainians and advance peace,” Zelensky said afterward in a statement on X. “The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help,” he added. “We also spoke about diplomacy — it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the meeting as “positive and productive.”

Relations between Zelensky and Trump have warmed since the start of the US president’s second term, with Trump suggesting earlier this month that Ukrainian strikes inside Russia could help end the war. Ahead of the meeting, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Kyiv’s priorities were fresh supplies of anti-ballistic missiles and ways to revive diplomacy, more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion. “It is crucial that Washington approves the purchase of a package of Patriot missiles. That is super important,” the Ukrainian official said.

Source: manilatimes.net