By Gram Slattery and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the White House on Tuesday ahead of the funeral of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who forcefully lobbied Washington to back Kyiv in its conflict with Russia.
Zelenskiy is expected to have a short private meeting with Trump, likely in the absence of reporters, ahead of Graham's funeral in the afternoon, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters.
The visit
offers Zelenskiy a chance to shore up military support at a moment when U.S.-Ukraine relations are warmer than they have been in months, but the U.S. has been sitting on aid for Kyiv and the loss of Graham has removed one of its most influential advocates in Washington.
The Ukrainian leader will press Trump for urgently needed air defense capabilities and the completion of a drone deal. The two leaders will also likely discuss Trump's promise at the NATO summit to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missile interceptors.
After the White House meeting, Zelenskiy is expected to go to the U.S. Capitol for a meeting with senators.
His visit comes as a letter sent to lawmakers from the Pentagon showed the Trump administration has told Congress it will not finish spending $400 million authorized for aid to Ukraine until fiscal year 2029, even as Kyiv runs critically low on weapons it needs to fend off Russian missile attacks.
Democrats and some of Trump's fellow Republicans have criticized the Pentagon for sitting on aid for Kyiv that members of both parties backed last year.
RELATIONS HAVE IMPROVED
Zelenskiy and Trump clashed repeatedly in the early months of Trump's second term, but relations between the two have improved in recent months as Ukraine has had greater success in the war, including with increased attacks on Russia's oil industry.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died suddenly from a heart ailment on July 11 at age 71, was one of Trump's most visible allies. He was a defense hawk who regularly called for an interventionist U.S. role on the world stage and strongly backed Ukraine.
He met with Zelenskiy in Kyiv only a day before his death, the 10th time he had visited Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. The Senate is preparing to vote on a bipartisan package of new sanctions on Russia that Graham spent his final days trying to push across the finish line.
Graham had been running for a fifth term in the Senate after winning the South Carolina Republican primary in June. His sister, Darline Graham, has been appointed to fill the remainder of his term and she has announced her intention to seek a full six-year term in November, with Trump’s endorsement.
Zelenskiy said as he arrived in Washington that anti-ballistic defense and strategic cooperation with the U.S. were the "number-one priority" for meetings with Trump and his team.
"Peace needs to be brought closer," he said in a post on X.
A White House official said Trump would discuss the peace process between Russia and Ukraine with the Ukrainian president. "Now is the time to end the war," the official said.
Zelenskiy spoke last week with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the prospects for renewed peace talks with Russia and said that Ukrainian and U.S. officials could meet in the United States in the coming days.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Don Durfee and Deepa Babington)
