by Barak Ravid at Axios
President Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a tense meeting on Friday that he doesn’t intend to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles, at least for now, two sources briefed on the meeting tell Axios.
Why it matters: Zelensky hoped to leave Washington with commitments around new weapons for Ukraine, but found Trump in a totally different state of mind a day after he held a lengthy call with Russian president Vlaidmir Putin. Trump made clear his priority now is diplomacy, and he thinks providing Tomahawks could undermine it, the sources say.
– “Nobody shouted, but Trump was tough,” according to the first source
– Trump gave several strong statements during the meeting and at some points it got a bit emotional,” the second source said.
– The meeting ended abruptly after 2.5 hours. “I think we’re done. Let’s see what happens next week,” Trump said, referring to planned talks between the U.S. and Russia. Trump intends to meet Putin in Budapest some time in the next two weeks.”
Zoom in: During the meeting, Trump briefed Zelensky on Thursday’s call with Putin…
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