Trump and Zelenskyy discuss drone swaps and Tomahawk missiles at White House

Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy have started their meeting at the White House, where they have already discussed a potential end to the conflict in Ukraine and the possibility of sending US long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

During the meeting, President Zelenskyy suggested a potential trade or swap involving Ukrainian drones and US Tomahawks. 

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 he needs to ensure 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."

Trump cautioned that giving Ukraine Tomahawks "could mean bigger escalation, a lot of bad things can happen."

He said the US also needs Tomahawks and "we don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country."

Regarding 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 asserted that he had "ended eight wars" and that he would build on recent diplomatic success in the Middle East to end the war in Ukraine.

He said it is easier to mediate when the two parties like each other and that the "bad blood" between Putin and Zelenskyy was making it more difficult.

He said he plans to give them some space at first.