By Gram Slattery and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday discussed efforts to revive peace talks with Russia and a deal to allow Ukraine to make Patriot missile interceptors, ahead of the funeral of a U.S. senator who was one of Kyiv's strongest backers.
Zelenskiy held a private meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, in the absence of reporters, before the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham in the afternoon.
The visit offered Zelenskiy an opportunity to shore up military support at a moment when U.S.-Ukraine relations are warmer than they have been in months.
The U.S., however, has been sitting on aid for Kyiv and the loss of Graham has removed one of Ukraine's most influential advocates in Washington.
Zelenskiy said on Telegram that he had a "good meeting" with Trump and they had discussed the U.S. leader's promise at a NATO summit this month to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missile interceptors.
As Russia has stepped up its attacks on cities, Ukraine has run chronically low on supplies of Patriots, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.
"We talked with the president about licenses for producing interceptors for the Patriots and other ideas that could help," Zelenskiy said, without providing further details.
"We also talked about diplomacy – it is important to step up the diplomatic process," he said, referring to stalled peace talks with Russia to end the war, now in its fifth year.
Following Graham's funeral, Zelenskiy is expected to go to the U.S. Capitol for a meeting with senators. 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.
Zelenskiy's visit came after 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.
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.
Ahead of the Oval Office meeting, 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 Ukrainian and U.S. officials could meet in the United States in the coming days.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Don Durfee, Deepa Babington and Daniel Wallis)
