Zelenskyy arrives at the White House to meet with Trump – photos, video

On Friday, October 17, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House to meet with his American counterpart Donald Trump. This became known from the broadcast of Suspilne.

Trump met the Ukrainian president at the entrance. There were no comments for the media.

Reporter: Do you believe you can convince Putin to end the war in Ukraine?

Trump: Yes, we can. pic.twitter.com/cvaTQCQ20I

- Clash Report (@clashreport) October 17, 2025

NOW: Trump welcomes Zelensky to the White House. pic.twitter.com/3ccjymNWki

- Clash Report (@clashreport) October 17, 2025

The meeting was scheduled for 20:00 Kyiv time. However, for unknown reasons, Zelensky arrived at the White House 30 minutes later.

The leaders gave short speeches to journalists and began answering questions from the media. Trump called Zelenskiy "a strong leader who has been through a lot." He also said that he would discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart his conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

When asked whether Zelenskyy would attend the Budapest summit, he said that it would most likely be a bilateral meeting with the Russian dictator. But he promised to be in touch with his Ukrainian counterpart.

The US president also said that the US is interested in Ukrainian drones and would like to buy them.

Zelenskyy spoke about his talks with representatives of US energy and defense companies. The main topics were assistance to Ukrainian infrastructure and strengthening air defense.

The Ukrainian president also said that Ukraine has thousands of drones, but no Tomahawk.

"The United States has Tomahawk and other missiles, but they can also have our drones. Therefore, we can work together, we can strengthen American production," Zelensky said.

Trump confirms that today they will discuss the possible provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. But he expressed hope that they "will not be needed".

The presidents talked to the press for about 45 minutes, after which the closed part of the meeting began. It will be held in the format of a lunch.

• On October 14, Trump announced that he would talk to Zelenskyy on October 17 at the White House, in particular, about the transfer of Tomahawk to Ukraine. This was repeatedly opposed by the Kremlin, including Putin himself. President of Ukraine noted that Moscow is afraid of supplying such weapons, and this shows that such pressure can help end the war.
• On October 16, after a call between Trump and Putin, Zelenskyy linked Russia's return to negotiations with discussing the transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine.