President Donald Trump held back-to-back Oval Office meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 28 July, as both leaders travelled to Washington for the memorial service of Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican foreign-policy hawk who died on 11 July. In separate Truth Social posts, Trump described the talks as “very good” and “excellent”; White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt later characterised both encounters as “positive and productive.”

Zelensky, who had earlier witnessed the Senate vote 86–12 to advance a Graham-named bill imposing new sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, pressed for a licence allowing Ukraine to manufacture US-designed Patriot air-defence interceptors domestically. According to Zelensky’s account on social media, the discussion centred on “ballistic missile defence”; the Ukrainian leader also raised the need to intensify diplomacy and relaunch peace negotiations with Moscow. No concrete agreement was announced.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, used a video statement to say the conversation with Trump was marked by “full partnership, mutual support and a shared understanding” that Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons. A separate Israeli readout mentioned talks on the potential normalisation of ties with Saudi Arabia, in the spirit of the Abraham Accords. Tensions preceded the meeting: Trump complained publicly about leaks of Netanyahu’s planned talking points regarding Iranian nuclear sites at Pickaxe Mountain, though an Israeli government spokesman later said that specific subject was not discussed.

The encounters unfolded five months into the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, which began on 28 February, and more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Graham, a fervent supporter of both Israel and Ukraine, had been instrumental in building legislative backing for the wars and, according to international press reports, had helped persuade Trump to launch strikes on Iran. With no formal agreements reached, attention now shifts to a reported plan – carried by unidentified international sources – for Trump’s special envoy and son-in-law to visit Kyiv for the first time in an effort to jump-start peace negotiations.