Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Oct. 17 proposed a deal to President Donald Trump that the U.S. trade its Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine’s drone technology, saying the swap could strengthen Ukraine in the war against Russia.
“If you want to target a military goal, you need thousands of drones,” Zelenskyy said during a joint appearance at the White House. He said Ukraine has “such thousands” of drones, but “we don’t have Tomahawks.”
“That’s why we need Tomahawks,” he added. “The United States has Tomahawks and other missiles, very strong missiles, but they can have our thousands of drones.”
Zelenskyy said the long-range missiles would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate.
“We want peace. Putin doesn’t want. That’s why we need pressure on him,” he said.
Asked by reporters if he was open to the exchange, Trump replied, “Yeah, we would. We build our own drones, but we also buy drones from others, and they make a very good drone.”
He later called Tomahawks “a very powerful weapon” but warned they are “very dangerous” and could trigger “a lot of bad things.” Trump also emphasized that the U.S. must retain enough missiles for its own defense.
Trump said Zelenskyy might join his upcoming peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, though he later clarified that discussions “may be separated.” He expressed continued hope that Putin “wants to end the war,” saying that they discussed “a lot of details” during their Oct. 16 phone call.
The White House meeting came one day after Trump’s call with Putin, which he described as “very productive.” As CatholicVote reported, after that phone call, Trump announced plans to meet with Putin in Hungary soon.
The post Zelenskyy proposes drone-for-missile exchange in White House meeting with Trump; Trump cautious on deal appeared first on CatholicVote org.