Zelenskyy to meet Trump in White House next week, to renew efforts for negotiations with Russia as conflict escalates

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet US President Donald Trump on July 28 (local time) at the White House, according to an official.

Citing a White House official, Bloomberg reported on Saturday that Zelenskyy will be in Washington, D.C., next week to attend Senator Lindsey Graham's funeral.

Zelenskyy was reportedly close with the South Carolina Republican senator, who died on July 11, and had visited Kyiv in the days before his death two weeks ago.

The meeting between the two leaders will come days after Zelenskyy said on social media that he had a "good, important conversation on how to reinvigorate diplomacy and bring peace closer" with Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Further, it comes as a series of long-range Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia continue to increase pressure on the Kremlin, while political tensions have escalated in wartime Kyiv. Last week, large-scale protests erupted after Zelenskyy dismissed a widely respected defence minister credited with expanding Ukraine's successful drone campaign against Russia. The move followed growing tensions between the minister and the army chief, who was later removed from his post as well.

Zelenskyy claims Russia supporting Iran amid conflict with US

The news of his visit coincides with Zelenskyy saying on social media on Saturday that he had instructed the country's intelligence agencies to share information about Russia's support for Iran during the ongoing conflict with the United States, ABC News reported.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian president noted that since the beginning of July, Kyiv has recorded Russian satellite surveillance of Arab countries in the Middle East and US military facilities in the region. Further, he alleged that "there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes – both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted."

His claims came after the US President on Friday (local time) said that he trusts his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, are not helping Tehran in any "major" way.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, "Well, I don't know that they're enabling. I mean, I will tell you that President XI said he will not partake. And President Putin said the same thing."

Marco Rubio meets with Sergey Lavrov

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at an ASEAN summit in Manila, where he told reporters that Washington was still engaged in efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict that the US president thinks is a "stupid war — he thinks it’s a senseless war."

He added, "If we can play a role in bringing it to an end, we’re going to use the power and influence of the United States to do so."

Russia-Ukraine war

The meeting between the two leaders will take place amid renewed efforts to revive diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the more than 4.5-year war with Russia, with no breakthrough yet in sight. Kyiv came under overnight attacks on Sunday (local time), a day after at least 12 people, including five children, were killed and 19 others were injured in a drone strike on a holiday camp in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region. Moscow-installed authorities accused Kyiv of deliberately targeting civilians.

Earlier this week, Russia launched a large-scale attack near the Ukrainian capital on Friday, killing at least 10 people and injuring around 100 others.

International calls to end the conflict have continued to grow after the United Nations (UN) warned that civilians have been dying in large numbers since the war began in February 2022.

(with agency inputs)