It's been a busy day in Washington as Zelenskyy and Netanyahu arrive for talks with Trump

LAST UPDATE | 52 mins ago

IT HAS BEEN a busy day in Washington DC today, as president Donald Trump welcomed his Ukrainian and Israeli counterparts to the White House and politicians from both major parties attended a memorial for Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who died earlier this month. 

Graham was a vociferous supporter of both Ukraine and Israel and a close ally of Trump. He built a reputation as one of the most ardent supporters of US military intervention in American politics. 

Trump acknowledged that reputation on Tuesday morning, telling Fox News that Graham was “very strong on the military.”

“Lindsey liked war,” Trump said. “He’s never seen a war that he didn’t like.”

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy were both scheduled to attend memorial events in the capital today. 

Zelenskyy and Netanyahu’s meetings with Trump took place behind closed doors. 

Missiles for Ukraine

Zelenskyy arrived at the White House this afternoon for talks with Trump, seeking to win US support in the fight against Russia.

Following the meeting, the Ukrainian president said the two had had “a good meeting” in the Oval Office and that they had discussed the US offer earlier this month of licences to produce Patriot air defence missiles.

The visit comes as Kyiv and Moscow have both ramped up long-range strikes and diplomatic efforts launched by Washington remain at a standstill, more than four years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.

More than 390 Ukrainian drones targeted the Moscow region overnight, the Russian capital’s mayor said on Tuesday morning. Local authorities reported some damage to residential buildings.

Relations between Zelenskyy and Trump have long been strained but the US leader has in recent weeks shown greater indulgence to his Ukrainian counterpart.

Since his return to power in January last year, Trump has largely ended direct deliveries of US arms to Kyiv in favour of the PURL programme, which allows Europeans to buy weapons and then supply them to Ukraine.

Washington, though, remains a major ally of Kyiv, providing it notably with intelligence and access to the Starlink satellite system that allows its frontline troops to communicate.

Zelenskyy met last week with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about how to “reinvigorate diplomacy” that has stalled since the start of the US-Israeli war in the Middle East in February.

Netanyahu visit

Netanyahu also arrived in Washington today for his first visit to the US capital since the two countries launched their war against Iran in February. 

The meeting, which the White House described as “positive and productive”, lasted for about an hour and a half.

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“We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, first and foremost Iran. Naturally, our goal is to safeguard our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us,” Netanyahu had said before departing from Israel.

Israel has not taken part in the latest round of hostilities between the United States and Iran, which flared earlier this month as an April ceasefire collapsed.

Israel has, however, continued its invasion of Lebanon. 

Relations between Netanyahu and Trump appeared to reach a low point during the last round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran, when the Israeli military intensified its attacks in Lebanon. 

An agreement between Iran and the US was reportedly contingent on Israel halting its campaign against Hezbollah. 

US media reported at the time that Trump told Netanyahu he was “fucking crazy” during a heated phone call. 

US walks out of UN meeting

Meanwhile, in another diplomatic arena, US representatives walked out of a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday during a speech from the French delegation, who levelled criticism at the Trump administration’s human rights record. 

What sparked the walkout was a social media post on Friday from France’s UN Mission in Geneva criticising US opposition to a second term for UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

The General Assembly voted 144-10 with 13 abstentions in support of Turk, with the US among the “no” votes.

“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the French Mission tweeted.

During his first four-year term, Turk consistently criticised human rights abuses and violations committed by Russia, Israel, the US and others. 

When it comes to the US in particular, Turk has taken aim at Washington’s sanctions against judges at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister. 

He also urged a “massive rethink” of US immigration policy before the World Cup, citing issues around “racial profiling, surveillance and immigration enforcement”.

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, in responding on X, accused France of coddling ”some of the worst human rights abusers” and voting “for someone who has been lecturing, free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the UK, and Israel, while cosying up to the world’s worst oppressors”.

During the meeting on Monday, US deputy ambassador Dan Negrea, admonished France.

“Today, I remind them that it is the United States that remains the beacon of liberty for the world,” he said.

“As such, we will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicised drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council.”

With reporting from AFP and Press Association