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Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President Donald Trump made a dig at Volodymyr Zelenskyy in their latest meeting as he was questioned about what weapons the US would be giving Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Donald Trump on Friday (October 18) and hoped to get a definite answer on what more weapons his country could be receiving from the US.
But things didn’t exactly go to plan for Zelenskyy.
He was hoping to have Trump confirm that the US would supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine in its fight with Russia but Trump appeared to sidestep the question when pressed by the media.
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Trump even implied that the Ukrainian leader had planted the question.
A reporter asked Trump directly whether the US would be supplying Tomahawk missiles and the president interrupted to ask who he was with, to be told the reporter was with Ukraine.
Trump replied: “We’re going to be talking about that, that’s why we’re here.
“Fair question— exactly as he told you to say it. But we’re gonna be talking about it.”
It isn’t exactly clear why Trump came to this conclusion or whether Zelenskyy actually had the question planted.
Trump did make it clear he wasn’t saying no to the option of supplying Tomahawks but would seemingly prefer if it didn’t come to that.
He said: “Tomahawks are a big deal. But one thing I have to say, we want Tomahawks, also. We don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the war over without thinking about Tomahawks. I think we’re fairly close to that.
Despite Trump not formally saying what would be happening in the future, in an interview with NBC News after the meeting, Zelenskyy made it clear he was optimistic.
He said he was aware that Trump was concerned that the use of Tomahawk missiles could simply be considered an escalation of the war.
This comes ahead of Trump’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin following a productive phone call.
He said: “It's good that President Trump didn't say 'no', but for today, didn't say 'yes'.
"I think that Putin [is] afraid that United States will deliver us Tomahawks. And I think that he [is] really afraid that we will use them.”