Trump Meets Zelensky, Netanyahu Amid Ongoing Conflicts

US President Donald Trump held separate meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, as the administration struggles to make progress in ending the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Both leaders were in Washington to attend the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away last month. While details of the closed-door meetings are limited, Zelensky was expected to press Trump on his promise to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles to bolster Kyiv’s air defenses.

Ukraine has been requesting Patriot air defense systems since the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Zelensky confirmed that Trump had agreed to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot interceptor missiles domestically.

The Patriot system is one of the few air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, which Russia has increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities. The system can track up to eight targets simultaneously and detect over a hundred, but each missile comes with a hefty price tag of $3-5 million.

Zelensky and the Ukrainian army have previously insisted that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot interceptor systems. The licensing agreement comes at a critical time for Zelensky, as recent protests over his decision to oust popular defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov have seen his approval rating drop.

In a separate meeting, Trump welcomed Netanyahu to the White House for talks expected to focus on Iran and broader regional security. The meeting came at a sensitive moment in US-Israel relations, with Trump having publicly criticized continued Israeli aggression in Lebanon and what he described as failures to uphold ceasefire agreements.

After the meeting, Netanyahu told Israeli media that the two leaders shared an understanding of a shared goal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The back-to-back meetings highlight the competing crises facing the White House, as both conflicts show no signs of easing.

Hours after Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump, Iran targeted a US military base in Jordan, according to the US military. Later in the evening, US and Saudi forces attacked Iranian proxies in eastern Iraq, which had allegedly fired drones at Saudi energy infrastructure, according to the US military.