Trump has ‘good conversation' with Zelenskyy after heavy bombardment of Ukraine by Russia
The call with Zelenskyy comes as Washington has halted its latest shipment of military aid to Ukraine including Patriot air defense missiles and other crucial munitions meant to support the country's defenses, and hours after Russia launched a devastating air attack on Kyiv using a record number of drones and ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy called the conversation 'important and useful' and said in a post said that he and Trump had discussed Ukraine's air defense capabilities, joint defense production and 'mutual purchases and investments', all potentially avenues for Ukraine to restart aid from the United States by providing incentives for the Trump administration to rush crucial munitions to Kyiv.
He said that the two sides had also agreed to 'increase aerial protection', a particular focus for Kyiv as Russia has increased bombardments of Ukrainian cities despite outrage from Trump and other world leaders.
Yet it was not immediately clear if Zelenskyy had achieved any concrete progress with Trump and in his statement he did not mention the halt of aid shipments from the US or announce their resumption. Axios reported that a source described the call as a 'good conversation'.
Trump said he was 'very disappointed' after a telephone call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday. A Putin aide told reporters that the Russian president was not willing to make concessions on what the Kremlin has called the 'root causes' of the war with Ukraine, a list of grievances that includes Nato expansion and Ukraine's desire to join western economic and security blocs.
'I'm very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don't think he's there,' Trump told reporters after holding a rally in Iowa on Thursday evening. 'I don't think he's there, and I'm very disappointed. I'm just saying, I don't think he's looking to stop, and that's too bad.'
The US has said that it halted the shipments, some of which were already in Poland, due to a review of US military stockpiles that suggested that the country is running low on munitions for its own troops.
Germany has said that it is in 'intensive talks' to buy the Patriot missiles for Ukraine, although it's unclear whether those stocks would be available immediately.
'There are various ways to fill this Patriot gap,' a German government spokesperson told a news conference in Berlin on Friday. One option being considered was for the German government to buy the Patriot missile batteries in the United States and then send them to Ukraine.
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'I can confirm that intensive discussions are indeed being held on this matter,' the spokesperson said.
The shortage of Patriot missiles was further highlighted by the record bombardment of Ukraine in which Russia sent more than 550 drones and ballistic missiles at major cities in what Zelenskyy described as a 'deliberate act of terror'.
The strike immediately followed the call between Putin and Trump, Zelenskyy said, and was a 'clear interpretation of how Moscow interprets diplomacy'.
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