U.S. President Donald Trump held back-to-back closed-door meetings at the White House on the 28th (local time) with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The move is seen as an attempt to seek a breakthrough in the war by summoning leaders of key allies now fighting intense conflicts. Trump, who typically allowed reporters to hear opening remarks when meeting foreign leaders, made an unusual choice to keep both meetings strictly private and continued in-depth discussions.
According to major foreign media reports on the 28th, Trump first met with President Zelenskyy in the morning and discussed authorizing production of Patriot interceptor missiles and options for cease-fire talks. After the meeting, Zelenskyy said on social media that they "discussed in depth local production of the Patriot system, which is essential for defending against Russian missiles." It appears to be a concrete step on Trump's pledge, made at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit held in Türkiye earlier this month, to authorize Patriot production. Some have analyzed that Trump, who has not seen clear progress in the Iran war, is trying to secure a diplomatic result through Ukraine.
International political consultancy Rasmussen Global told the New York Times (NYT), "U.S.-Iran relations remain very unstable," adding, "Ukraine is back in the spotlight." It continued, "However, President Trump and President Zelenskyy recognize each other's diplomatic efforts and are in a position to leverage one another." Zelenskyy recently abruptly dismissed the defense minister who led drone combat and faced a backlash from Ukrainians. Trump, who harshly scolded Zelenskyy at last year's White House meeting, clearly took a conciliatory tone this time, and the U.S.-Ukraine relationship entered a new phase.
After meeting with President Zelenskyy, Trump held a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The two leaders showed a honeymoon relationship when they launched a joint operation against Iran in February, but recently have had frequent clashes over cease-fire terms. In particular, just before the meeting, Trump expressed displeasure at Netanyahu in a Fox News interview for leaking to the media information related to Iran's underground nuclear facilities. "I know exactly what is happening at Mount Pickaxe," he said. "Why not tell me directly, and why shout it to the whole world?" Some U.S. outlets raised suspicions that Netanyahu, seeking to sustain the Iran war to rally his base, waged a deliberate public-opinion campaign.
Facing a general election at the end of October, Netanyahu lowered his stance right after the meeting, saying in a video message, "I had an excellent meeting with President Trump," and "Today's meeting was one of the best ever." Netanyahu added, "We shared understanding on several issues, including the shared goal of preventing Iran from going nuclear." Experts said Netanyahu, who has been wary of cease-fire talks, made a conciliatory gesture to secure a Trump visit to Israel before the election. White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said briefly on social media that "both meetings were positive and productive."