President Donald Trump will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Tuesday.
A senior White House official told the Washington Examiner on Friday that Zelensky will meet with Trump when the foreign leader travels to Washington, D.C., to attend the funeral services for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Graham, who died earlier this month following a sudden cardiac event at 71, was a staunch advocate of U.S. assistance to Ukraine amid its defense against a Russian invasion.
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The visit comes amid a shift in U.S. stature toward Ukraine. Trump initially opposed the near-unlimited defense assistance the Biden administration provided to Ukraine. But that posture seems to be softening.
Trump announced during the NATO summit earlier this month that the United States would grant licenses to Ukraine to produce its own Patriot missiles, a surface-to-air defense technology that has been critical to Ukraine’s war effort.
Trump seems to have been particularly impressed this year by Ukraine’s rapid buildout of its own military industrial complex and offensive campaign against Moscow.
“I believe that what President Trump is saying now, compared to where we were this time last year, is really an extraordinary turnaround,” a former European diplomat told the Washington Examiner. “There was a time where [Europe] was really worried that the president would pressure Ukraine into completely caving to Russia’s demands for ending the war, but he seems to be in a different headspace.”
The White House declined to say Friday if the president would make any new announcements regarding the war or alter U.S. policy in any way during Zelensky’s visit.
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“The President has a humanitarian heart and wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends,” a White House official previously told the Washington Examiner. “The President and his team have worked very hard to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done.”