Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump have confirmed plans to meet in Washington later this week, following several recent exchanges on strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities amid intensified Russian attacks.

Speaking on Oct. 13 alongside EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Zelensky announced that his meeting with Trump is scheduled for October 17 and will focus on air defense systems and long-range strike capabilities. He noted that two recent phone calls with the U.S. president “were not enough” to address all crucial issues and that an in-person discussion was necessary to outline concrete next steps.

The upcoming meeting, reportedly organized at Washington’s invitation, will mark the fifth encounter between Trump and Zelensky since Trump’s return to the White House in January. Their most recent talks took place on September 23 in New York, during the United Nations General Assembly. Zelensky added that a Ukrainian government delegation, headed by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, is already traveling to the United States.

“I think we need to discuss the sequence of steps that I want to propose to President Trump,” Zelensky said, emphasizing that Kyiv aims to secure additional defense systems and HIMARS rocket launchers as part of what he called a “Mega Deal” with Washington.

Trump later confirmed the meeting while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One. When asked whether he would host the Ukrainian leader at the White House on October 17, he replied, “I think so, yeah.”

Kyiv has been urging its partners to boost support for its air defense network as Moscow intensifies aerial assaults on energy infrastructure. A large-scale strike on October 10 temporarily disrupted power across the capital and several regions.

Trump has previously mentioned the possibility of providing Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles, long-range precision weapons with a reach of up to 2,500 kilometers. The Kremlin responded by voicing “extreme concern,” warning that any such delivery would mark “a qualitatively new stage of escalation.”

According to Zelensky, the potential acquisition of Tomahawks could be funded through the anticipated “Mega Deal” with the United States, by using frozen Russian assets, or through the NATO-led Priority Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) mechanism.