Poroshenko said on Wednesday that he had had “very effective negotiations for defensive weapons” with his American counterpart in the meeting in Washington on Tuesday.
“We talked that we don’t need to attack anybody but we want to have an effective mechanism to defend by radioelectronic warfare, by drones, by everything,” Poroshenko told FOX news.
After the meeting with Poroshenko, Trump said “a lot of progress has been made” in the relations between the two countries and that the two had “very, very good discussions.”
Poroshenko had said earlier in Washington, “We received strong support from the US side, support in terms of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the independence of our state.” But he declined to directly answer a question by reporters about whether it was time for Washington to start selling lethal arms to Ukraine.
The Pentagon said earlier that the Trump administration did not rule out the option of providing Ukraine with lethal weapons.
Moscow has several times warned Washington against supplying Kiev with such weapons, arguing that the move could seriously affect the balance of power in the region.
The Trump-Poroshenko meeting took place on the same day that the US added more Russian individuals and entities to its list of those facing sanctions over Moscow’s alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis.