Trump-Zelenskyy meeting: Can the US president force Moscow into ceasefire?

Negotiating the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, US President Donald Trump announced an ultimatum to the militant group: accept the deal or “all hell, like no one has ever seen before, will break out.”

The US president might now adopt a similar approach toward Russia, following months of diplomatic efforts that did not bring a ceasefire or a peace deal any closer.

Moscow refused not only to negotiate with Kyiv, but even to get that one-on-one meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On Friday, Trump and Zelenskyy are to meet in Washington for the sixth time since the US president’s return to the White House.

Commenting on what exactly the two leaders are going to discuss, Trump said Ukraine wants to “go on counteroffensive” against Russia.

"They want to go offensive," the US president said on Wednesday. "I'll make a determination on that, but they want to go offensive and we'll have to make a determination."

He did not provide details on what “offensive” tactics might look like or where exactly Ukraine’s forces might start moving, but there is more clarity about what kind of weapons the US might supply Ukraine with – Tomahawk missiles.

These cruise missiles with an operational range of 1,600 to 2,500 kilometres and a powerful warhead weighing 400 to 450 kilograms could be a key element in Ukraine’s strikes at Russia’s military sites deep in the rear. This would also be a crucial aspect and phase in any counteroffensive campaign Kyiv might be planning.

“Tools like Patriots and Tomahawks can help lay a long-term foundation for peace”, Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.

“The agenda of our meeting with the president of the United States is very substantive. This can truly bring the war closer to an end – it is the United States that can wield this kind of global influence, and we are doing everything to ensure that others around the world stand on our side in this effort," he stated.

But it is not only the Tomahawk missiles that Washington can provide. Ukraine’s president confirmed he wants to discuss the air defence, while Trump said the US is also looking at “at other options" besides Tomahawks. He did not say what those options were.

The Kremlin claimed that the supply of Tomahawks to Ukraine would represent a “dramatic escalation” in Moscow’s all-out war, while Russia itself is regularly using long-range missiles to target Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure.

"We see and hear that Russia fears the Americans might provide us with Tomahawks, which signals that this kind of pressure could be effective in achieving peace," Zelenskyy said earlier this week.

Trump to meet Putin in Hungary

Meanwhile, Trump said on Thursday evening that he would meet Putin again for a fresh round of talks in Hungary, but said a date hadn't been decided yet.

While publicly admitting that the conversation about Tomahawks is about to take place on Friday, the US president also openly doubted Moscow's military capabilities.

In comments directed at the Russian president, Trump urged Russia to make a peace deal and said the prolonged war was bad for Moscow's image as a great power.

"All we want from President Putin is this: stop killing (Ukrainians) and stop killing Russians, cause he's killing a lot of Russians. Again, it doesn't make him look good," Trump said.

"It's a war that he should have won in one week and he's now going into his fourth year. That does not make this big so-called war machine look good," he added.

"But he could make a settlement. We're wiling to settle. I thought we had a deal."

In his last comment, Trump was referring to his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August, which he said at the time marked a significant breakthrough in the peace process, even though no ceasefire agreement was reached.

But the diplomatic process has been stalled due to the Kremlin's refusal to meet with Zelenskyy.

Over the summer, Russia was trying to occupy more of Ukraine’s territory to gain greater leverage in any possible negotiations, and Moscow’s maximalist demands over Ukraine’s territory included areas it had never controlled.

However, Moscow’s offensive failed, and its forces did not end up occupying more territory.