Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy entices Trump with $90bn arms buy in return for security
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday after his Washington meeting with Donald Trump and European leaders that security guarantees for Ukraine will likely be worked out within 10 days. He added that it would include the purchase for Ukraine of a package of US weapons. “There indeed is a package with our proposals worth $90bn,” Zelenskyy said. “And we have agreements with the US president that when our export opens, they will buy Ukrainian drones. This is important for us.”
Reports earlier suggested that Ukraine would promise to buy $100bn of US weapons financed by Europe – lucrative for US suppliers – as part of a deal to get guarantees from the US for its security if there is a peace settlement with Russia, according to reports. The Financial Times added that Ukraine and the US would also strike a $50bn deal to produce drones with Ukrainian companies. The drone news may partly repeat recent similar announcements.
Donald Trump said after talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders on Monday that the US would oversee European security guarantees for Ukraine. “During the meeting we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” the US president posted.
Trump said he had begun to arrange an initial bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, and the Russian ruler, Vladimir Putin; to be followed by a trilateral meeting involving Trump as well.
Friedrich Merz – the German chancellor and part of Zelenskyy’s European “bodyguard” detail in Washington – said Trump in a call with Putin had “agreed that there will be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks” with the venue still to be agreed upon.
Russia’s initial response to the idea of direct Putin-Zelenskyy talks was elliptical. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told the Tass news agency that Putin told Trump he was open to the “idea” of it. “The idea was discussed that it would be necessary to study the possibility of raising the level of representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian sides.”
Zelenskyy told Ukrainian media outside the White House: “I confirmed – and all European leaders supported me – that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin.” Putin has at all stages appeared deeply reluctant to face Zelenskyy personally; whereas Zelenskyy has been saying since Trump took office that he is ready for such a meeting.
Merz said Trump “noticed that we Europeans are speaking with one voice”. The Europeans and Americans would need to discuss who participates in the security guarantees and to what extent. “It’s completely clear that the whole of Europe should participate,” Merz said. “This is not just about the territory of Ukraine. It’s about the political order of Europe.”
Merz said Ukraine must not be forced to surrender its Donbas region to Russia, which “corresponds, to put it bluntly, to a proposal for the United States to have to give up Florida”.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “President Trump believes we can get an agreement and believes that President Putin also wants a peace accord. But if at the end this process is met by refusal, we are also ready to say that we need to increase sanctions [on Russia].”
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