JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Lindsey Graham was a huge supporter of Israel and Ukraine. The leaders of those countries - Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy - both attended the senator's funeral. They also met separately with Trump to discuss their countries' ongoing wars. NPR's Greg Myre has covered those wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and he joins us now from Ukraine's capital. Hi.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So, Greg, since you're there in Kyiv, I'd love to start with Zelenskyy. What can you tell us about his meeting with President Trump?
MYRE: Well, there were no TV cameras this time, so no repeat of that very public Oval Office argument they had early last year. The relationship has steadily recovered and improved. Trump has been treating Zelenskyy with more respect and especially as Ukraine has gained the momentum with its long-range drone attacks against Russia. Now, Zelenskyy took to social media right after the meeting. He said he had a good meeting with Trump, adding, I'm grateful to the United States for its firm support. So the tone keeps improving, but still there's no sign that Trump will send weapons, which he has effectively cut off.
SUMMERS: OK, tone is one thing, but doesn't Ukraine need something more concrete, like those weapons?
MYRE: Yeah, it really does. Ukraine's most pressing need is U.S. Patriot missiles. It's by far the most effective weapon in shooting down those incoming Russian ballistic missiles. Now, Zelenskyy said he discussed Trump's offer, made earlier this month, to give Ukraine a license to make its own Patriot missiles. But this would be complicated and would likely take a couple years. And Russia is firing those missiles right now most every night. And I got to tell you, Juana, when you hear those air raid sirens go off, you know Ukraine is desperately short of these interceptors and the Russian missiles are much more likely to strike now than in the past.
SUMMERS: I mean, Greg, typically, when we talk about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, we do so separately. But over the past few days, we've seen them overlapped beyond the fact that both Zelenskyy and Netanyahu met with Trump here in Washington today. Tell us about it.
MYRE: Yeah, Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine carried out a long-range airstrike that hit an Iranian boat in the Caspian Sea carrying military cargo to Russia. Now, Iran denounced the strike on what it said was a commercial ship. We don't know what was on that ship, but Russia and Iran have traded military hardware dating back decades. And Zelenskyy also said Russia is sharing satellite data with Iran on the location of U.S. troops in the Middle East. He says this allows Iran to carry out more precise attacks on the U.S. troops.
SUMMERS: OK, let's turn now to the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump, and it appears to be under increasing strain. How would you describe it?
MYRE: Yeah, we saw this friction today even before they met. Trump was on Fox News. He was asked about Netanyahu's comments of possible Iranian nuclear activity at a place called Pickaxe Mountain.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don't need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi's telling me that 'cause he wants me to stay involved.
MYRE: And Trump means stay involved in the Iran war. And then he went on to say...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: But no, I heard Bibi announce that. I said, why don't you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world? I know exactly what's going on.
MYRE: So after they actually met, Netanyahu's office said the discussions were excellent and focused on Iran. However, the two leaders just have different agendas now. Today is five months to the day - February 28 - that Trump and Netanyahu launched the war in Iran, and they were working then in very close coordination. But now Trump wants a way out, and he's reopening negotiations, and Netanyahu's extremely worried that such a deal won't be good for Israel.
SUMMERS: Greg, last thing - do they need each other to resolve the war in Iran?
MYRE: You know, almost certainly yes. Trump wants Israel to be less aggressive in the region. Israel has not taken part in the U.S. strikes against Iran over the past two weeks. And Trump also wants Israel to scale back its actions in Lebanon. And Israel is not part of the U.S. negotiations on Iran. And Israel is very worried that an agreement will not address its concerns with Iran.
SUMMERS: NPR's Greg Myre, thank you.
MYRE: Sure thing, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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