Trump 'open to weapons trade' with Zelenskyy as leaders meet to discuss Ukraine war
Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy met a day after the US and Russian leaders spoke on the phone
Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy have begun their meeting at the White House, where they have already discussed a possible end to the conflict in Ukraine and US long-range Tomahawk missiles being sent to Kyiv.
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During the meeting President Zelenskyy suggested that some kind of trade or exchange of Ukrainian drones and US Tomahawks could be possible.
Zelenskyy said: "We have a big proposition with our drones".
Trump nodded in agreement and said that the US would "be interested in that...they make a very good drone."
However, Trump added that he must ensure that the US is "completely stocked up" on the necessary weaponry.
He added: "So we're going to be talking about Tomahawks... we'd much rather have them not need Tomahawks, we'd much rather have the war be over."
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Trump warned that giving Ukraine Tomahawks "could mean bigger escalation, a lot of bad things can happen."
He claims the US also requires Tomahawks and "we don't want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country."
In terms of ending the war, Trump said progress had been made after a two hour call with President Putin the previous day.
On the topic of the call with his Russian counterpart he said: "We went through a lot of details"
He added: "[Putin] wants to get it ended. I think that President Zelenskyy wants to get it ended. Now we have to get it done."
During the meeting, Zelenskyy said all sides need to sit down and talk to agree to a ceasefire.
He said Ukraine wants peace, but argues that Putin needs to be "pressured" into ending the war.
He added that Ukraine is ready to talk in any format.
Trump repeatedly claimed that he had "ended eight wars" and that he would build upon recent diplomatic success in the Middle East to end the war in Ukraine.
He said that it's easier to mediate when the two parties like each other and that the "bad blood" between Putin and Zelensky was making it more difficult.
He said he plans to give them some space initially.