Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy paints Trump meeting as ‘positive’, with Patriot missile deal in works

Zelenskyy has painted his meeting last week with Trump as a success that yielded progress on acquiring new air defence systems, a contrast from reports that Trump had berated him with obscenities in the White House. In comments to the media on Sunday that were embargoed until Monday, the Ukrainian president described Trump’s message at the meeting as “positive”, even though Zelenskyy did not secure Tomahawk cruise missiles. As a result of the visit, Ukraine is now preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defence systems in a major boost to its defences, Zelenskyy said. He was speaking before reports that Trump had pushed Zelenskyy to give up territory during their meeting, which sources described as more tense than initially disclosed.

Zelenskyy will travel to London on Friday for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” before the expected Trump-Putin summit in Hungary, amid mounting European disquiet over Ukraine’s exclusion from the Budapest meeting, Peter Beaumont reports. Zelenskyy said the aim of the London visit was to win security guarantees for Kyiv and there would be “many meetings and negotiations in Europe” this week. On Thursday Zelenskyy will travel to Brussels to attend a summit of the European Council, Reuters reported.

Donald Trump has said he thinks it is possible Ukraine can defeat Russia but that he is now doubtful it will happen. “They could still win it. I don’t think they will, but they could still win it,” the US president told reporters at the White House on Monday, adding added fresh scepticism towards Kyiv as he plans to soon meet again with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Trump last month reversed his long-held position that Ukraine would have to concede land and could win back all the territory it has lost to Russia, but after a lengthy call with Putin last week, followed by a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump made another reversal and called on Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” and end their fighting. Asked on Monday about his shifting opinion, Trump said: “I never said they would win it – I said they could. Anything can happen. You know war is a very strange thing.”

A new Russian attack on the Ukrainian border region of Chernihiv on Monday knocked out power to stretches of territory in the north of the country, including the main town outside the decommissioned Chornobyl nuclear power station, officials said. The local power company in the region, Chernihivoblenergo, said the latest assault targeted an energy site, but did not identify it. Yuri Fomichev, the mayor of Slavutych, which is 45km (28 miles) west of the Chernobyl plant in Kyiv region, said on Telegram that part of the town had lost power in the incident. Emergency crews were working on restoring power.

There is “broad support” among European Union member states for a new €140bn ($163bn) loan for Ukraine funded by frozen Russian central bank assets, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said. “It is crucial that we make progress on addressing the legal and fiscal modalities,” she said on Monday after talks by EU foreign ministers. The European Commission has put forward the plan for a “reparation loan” to keep financing Kyiv and is seeking to win over major doubter Belgium, where the bulk of the assets are held.

The cost of Britain’s contribution to a post-ceasefire stabilisation force for Ukraine would be “well over £100m”, the defence secretary, John Healey, has said after a speech in London. Dan Sabbagh reports that Healey said he had already brought forward millions in spending so that a “multinational force Ukraine” led by the UK and France could be ready to deploy quickly if peace talks produce a ceasefire. “Peace is possible, and if President Trump can broker a peace, then we will be ready to help secure that peace for the long term. That requires us to invest and prepare our forces to be ready to deploy.”

Russian lawmakers said they had drafted a law mandating life imprisonment for anyone involving minors in sabotage and lowering the age threshold for criminal responsibility for such crimes to 14. The chairman of the lower house’s security committee, Vasily Piskaryov, said a bill introduced into parliament on Monday and backed by 419 out of 450 deputies would increase the security of the state. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has crafted a series of laws that give state security agencies extensive powers to detain those accused of misrepresenting the war or opposing the state.