Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump warns Zelensky to accept Putin’s terms or be ‘destroyed’

Ukrainians shared their disappointment that the US may not provide Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk missiles, while work to repair the damaged power supply to the country’s Zaporizhzhia power plant soothed other concerns surrounding Europe’s largest nuclear plant.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met with president Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, after the US leader signalled that Washington could provide Ukraine with the long-range missiles Kyiv believes will help bring Russian president Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

Yet Zelensky ultimately left empty-handed — an outcome that dismayed, but did not surprise, many in the streets of the Ukrainian capital, who maintained their determination to end Russia’s invasion of their country.

One Ukrainian military serviceman, Roman Vynnychenko, told The Associated Press that he believed the prospect of Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine was a political “game”.

“Ukraine won’t get those missiles,” he said.

Vynnychenko said Ukraine still needed to procure new weapons with or without American help, particularly as Russian drones and missiles continued to hit civilian infrastructure.

“Every day civilians and soldiers die, buildings collapse, our streets and cities are being destroyed,” Vynnychenko said.

Trump announced Thursday that he will soon meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. The choice has raised questions, because Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court. However, Hungary appears unlikely to cooperate with the warrant and is in the process of leaving the court, the Associated Press reports.

When HuffPost asked the White House who chose the location for the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt replied, “Your mom did.” White House communications director Steven Cheung also followed up with, “Your mom,” the outlet reports.

Donald Trump said the idea of a Putin-Trump rail tunnel linking the US and Russia was “interesting” after it was floated by a Russian envoy late on Thursday night.

But when asked about it in Washington on Friday, Zelensky said “I’m not happy with this idea,” prompting laughter from the US side.

The idea envisions a rail tunnel built under the Bering Strait, connecting the two countries, and allowing for joint exploration of natural resources.

Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, suggested the idea after Trump’s call with Putin on Thursday.

“Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel – a 70-mile link symbolising unity,” he posted on X.

He suggested the project could be taken on by Elon Musk’s Boring Company, at a cost of $8bn (£6bn).

Russia attacked a coal mine in southeastern Ukraine on Sunday in its latest attack on the country’s energy system.

Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK, said it was the fourth Russian assault in two months on Ukraine’s coal mining operations.

The company said there were no injuries, and 192 miners were brought to the surface.

In a tense meeting at the Oval Office on Friday, Trump contemplated giving security guarantees to both Kyiv and Moscow, which confused the Ukrainian delegation, Reuters reported.

Trump also pushed Zelensky to cede territory to Russia and resorted to profanity several times throughout the meeting.

A source, who described the meeting as “pretty bad”, said: “The message was, ‘Your country will freeze, and your country will be destroyed'” if Ukraine doesn’t make a deal with Russia.”

During his nightly video address on Sunday, Zelensky said: “We will give nothing to the aggressor, and we will forget nothing.”

Zelensky has called for a “coalition of the willing” meeting as he asks allies not to appease Russia upon returning home from his meeting with Trump.

“I have instructed our diplomats – and have already discussed this with many leaders – to prepare a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in the near future,” Zelensky said in a statement.

“We in Europe need common and strong positions. And we will have them.”

The “coalition of the willing” is a group made up of more than 30 nations that have signed up to help defend a peace deal in Ukraine.

utin’s talks move was meant to make the US transfer of such weapons less likely, said Max Bergmann, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It does seem that Putin’s outreach is perhaps designed to thwart the potential transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine, so Putin is wanting to put that back in the box,” Bergmann said. “It strikes me as sort of a stalling tactic.”

Mykola Bielieskov, a senior analyst at Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization that is a major procurer of military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces, said Tomahawk missiles would level a playing field that is tipped toward Russia, but that they would not be a silver bullet.

“We don’t expect Russia to crumble after one, two or three successful strikes,” Bielieskov said. “But it’s about pressure, constant pressure. It’s about disrupting the military-industrial complex.”

Since taking office in January, Trump has regularly threatened action against Russia, only to delay those steps after talks with Putin.

Trump told Zelensky to cut a deal with Russia, warning that Putin said he would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not comply, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

During Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office, Trump insisted that he relinquish the eastern Donbas region to Russia, repeating points Putin had made to Trump in their call the day before.

People familiar with the matter told the FT that Trump tossed aside maps of the frontline in Ukraine, insisting that Zelensky surrender the entire region to Russia.

The meeting allegedly turned into a “shouting match”, with Trump “cursing all the time”.

Zelensky managed to bring Trump back to endorsing a freeze of the current front lines.

Zelensky has made proposals to the US around replacing Russian energy supplies, saying that there should be zero Russian energy in Europe.

“The signals from America are clear—they are ready to supply as much gas and oil as needed to replace Russian supplies,” he said.