Trump to meet Zelensky on Friday to talk defence, weapons

US President Donald Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday for a working lunch, three sources familiar with the planning said, amid intensifying discussions about the potential provision of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

The two leaders spoke on Saturday and yesterday, and a high-ranking Ukrainian delegation, led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, is slated to come to Washington before the Friday meeting to lay the groundwork for the leaders' talks.

The main topics are expected to include air defence, additional US weapons for Kyiv and Russia's potential return to the negotiating table, said one of the sources who, like the others, requested anonymity as the visit has not been publicly announced.

Mr Zelensky has been lobbying Washington to supply US-produced Tomahawk missiles, which have the capacity to hit Moscow, but which Ukrainians say would be used only on military targets.

Russia has said such a move would represent a serious escalation.

Mr Trump has said he is considering sending Tomahawks to Ukraine, though he has also said he might talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about it.

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500km, long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.

The United States would not sell missiles directly to Ukraine, but provide them to NATO, which can then offer them to the Ukrainians, Mr Trump said.

"Yeah, I might tell him (Putin), if the war is not settled, we may very well do it," he said. "We may not, but we may do it. … Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don't think so."

Only for military targets - Zelensky

Mr Zelensky said that Ukraine would only use Tomahawk missiles for military purposes and not attack civilians in Russia, should the US provide them.

"We never attacked their civilians. This is the big difference between Ukraine and Russia," the Ukrainian leader said on the Fox News "Sunday Briefing" program.

"That's why, if we speak about long-range (missiles), we speak only about military goals."

Mr Zelensky's comments, which were recorded on Saturday, aired yesterday after his second talks in as many days with US President Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian leader said they are still discussing the possibility that Washington might provide Kyiv with the long-range missiles.

Mr Trump said last week that before agreeing to provide Tomahawks he wants to know how Ukraine would use them because he does not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky said he was still working on trying to convince Mr Trump to approve a missile deal.

"We count on such decisions, but we'll see," Mr Zelensky said.

New stage of escalation - Putin

Mr Putin said earlier this month that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of US military personnel and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a "qualitatively new stage of escalation."

Still, Mr Zelensky, in an evening address in Ukraine yesterday, said he saw Russia's concerns as reason to press forward.

"We see and hear that Russia is afraid that the Americans may give us Tomahawks - that this kind of pressure may work for peace," Mr Zelensky said.

The war in Ukraine is Europe's deadliest since World War II, and Russian officials say they are now in a "hot" conflict with the West.

Mr Putin portrays it as a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the west, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.

Ukraine and its allies have cast it as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.

Kaja Kallas in Ukraine for talks on financial and military support

Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas is in Ukraine today for talks on both financial and military support.

Ms Kallas, who was pictured meeting Ukrainians this morning, said she is speaking today on the security of Ukraine's energy sector and "holding Russia accountable for its war crimes".

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attacked a fuel depot at Feodosia in eastern Crimea, setting it on fire, the Russian-installed head of Crimea said.

Sergei Aksyonov said on his Telegram channel that more than 20 drones had been shot down by air defence forces, and no one was injured.

However, the scale of the damage was not revealed.

The oil depot in Feodosia, as well as other energy and military targets in Crimea, have been repeatedly targeted by Ukraine.

Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each other's energy infrastructure as peace talks have failed to advance in recent months.