Netanyahu and Zelensky speak in person for first time in 3 years at Graham funeral

Report says PM’s office rebuffed request to meet with Ukrainian leader, as FM stresses threat that Iran poses to both Israel and Ukraine during call with his counterpart in Kyiv

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke and shook hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral service on Tuesday, after both leaders were hosted separately at the White House by US President Donald Trump.

The conversation looked to be quite serious but cordial, and Netanyahu and Zelensky smiled during their handshake.

They had not spoken since January 2025 and the last time they met in person was September 2023. The two explored arranging a formal meeting in Washington on Tuesday, but ultimately did not move ahead with the idea.

Haaretz reported that Netanyahu’s office rebuffed a request to meet, with a Ukrainian source telling the Hebrew daily that the Prime Minister’s Office proposed the sit-down but never responded after Zelensky agreed. There was no immediate comment from either side on the report.

Also Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha and invited him to visit Israel.

“We discussed the challenges facing our nations, including the threat posed by Iran,” said Sa’ar.

“Israel and Ukraine are friends, and I look forward to further deepening our cooperation, including through the establishment of new education centers in Ukrainian hospitals,” wrote Sa’ar on X.

Sybiha said that he accepted Sa’ar’s invitation, adding that he updated his Israeli counterpart “about Russia’s escalation of terror against civilian vessels and freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and their implications for global food security, including for Israel as an importer.”

The Ukrainian foreign minister said he also told Sa’ar about Ukraine’s preparations to commemorate the upcoming 85th anniversary of the Babyn Yar, during which the Nazis and their collaborators murdered more than 33,000 Jews over two days in September 1941.

Ties between Jerusalem and Kyiv have been delicate since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, with Zelensky earlier this year saying that Netanyahu has sought to maintain a neutral stance on the conflict despite Russia providing critical intelligence to Iran in the war with the US and Israel.

Ukraine has sought to purchase Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which Netanyahu ruled that out to avoid antagonizing Russia, while also resisting Ukrainian offers to help Israel counter the threat of drone attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli officials routinely defended this stance when Russia controlled the skies over Syria before the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in 2024. Since then, some Israeli officials have been willing to break more publicly with Moscow, though Netanyahu has avoided doing so.

Zelensky huddles with Trump

The meeting between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office, which like Netanyahu’s closed to the media, followed a consequential meeting at the NATO summit earlier this month in Ankara, Turkey, where the US president announced that his administration will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot defense systems — a long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.

Taken together, those meetings underscore how much Trump, once a major skeptic of continued assistance to Kyiv, has warmed to Zelensky as Ukraine continues to withstand the Russian barrage more than four years after Moscow’s invasion in 2022. The Ukrainian leader, whose relationship with Trump in his second term was marked by a raucous White House visit in which he was denigrated for being ungracious, has worked to court the Republican administration while relying on both likely and unlikely allies in Trump’s orbit to exert their influence with the president.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has consumed much of the Trump administration’s focus this year, has also become gradually entwined with Ukraine, with Ukraine firing on at least one Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea over the weekend while Zelensky asserts that Russia has been offering satellite imagery of US bases in the Persian Gulf to Iran.

In a post on social media after the meeting, Zelensky thanked Trump for the “good meeting” and the Republican administration’s efforts to aid Kyiv in the long-running war.

“The president and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help,” said Zelensky, who also noted that he offered condolences to Trump for the death of Graham, a close ally. “We also spoke about diplomacy — it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said both the Zelensky meeting and the sit-down with Netanyahu were “positive and productive.”

Zelensky wants to bolster Ukraine’s defense production

Later during his whirlwind, one-day visit to Washington, Zelensky posted that he met with officials from Lockheed Martin for further cooperation in both defense production and exchanging of technologies, saying, “Ukraine has a lot to share with those who help us protect lives.”

Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Hudson Institute, said expanding production capacity for Patriot interceptors is not only vital for Ukraine, but also for the US and its Gulf allies, particularly as supply runs low during the war in Iran.

“Ukraine has shown that its defense industry is capable, innovative and creative,” Coffey said. “I have no doubt that when they’re granted the license, they will be able to produce these missiles which will hopefully mean there will be more available for the US.”

Trump welcomed Zelensky to the White House as the Ukrainian leader traveled to Washington to honor Graham, whose final act as a public official was visiting Kyiv and securing an agreement on a package of sanctions that seek to punish countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other exports.

In a Fox News Channel interview Tuesday, Trump recalled Graham’s hawkishness and said the Republican South Carolina senator’s support for Ukraine never wavered. Trump said Graham had suggested it was time to make a deal with Iran but had no similar suggestion for the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Ukraine, he’s very militant about,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.” “I mean, Lindsey liked war, to be honest with you.”

The Trump administration’s embrace of Zelensky comes as a far-right activist with the US president’s ear had a recent, widely publicized change of heart on Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Laura Loomer, known primarily for her incendiary social media posts and her influence with Trump, has been traveling through Ukraine, witnessing Moscow’s barrage firsthand and interviewing Zelensky while admitting she was “bamboozled by Russian propaganda.” Loomer said she spoke to Trump after she met with Zelensky in Ukraine last week and she expects to meet with the US president once she returns from her trip.

Ukraine highlights ties between Iran and Russia

Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky also warned that Russia has been aiding Iran as the war persists by capturing satellite imagery of US bases in the Gulf region that later appear in Iran. The Ukrainian president also asserted that there was a “clear correlation” between Russia’s images and subsequent Iranian strikes.

Iran is a key ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine and has helped Moscow build up its drone expertise.

But on Monday, Trump downplayed any impact of potential Russian assistance for Iran, even as he said he would raise the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Michigan. “And if they have, it has been very un-impactful.”

On the Caspian Sea attack, the foreign ministers of Iran and Ukraine spoke about the matter, according to statements posted on social media Tuesday. Sybiha called the conversation “frank” and said Ukraine’s focus is “solely at defending our country from Russian aggression and never intended to target civilian vessels or people.”

Ukraine says the ship was carrying weapons to Russia.

“Our goal is to counter Russian aggression, which is the root cause of all incidents, and it is Russia who bears full responsibility for all provocations and casualties,” Sybiha said, adding that he told Araghchi “to refrain from any escalatory steps, as well as to end any support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

“Our position remains unchanged: Europe and the Middle East deserve stability, security, and peace,” said Sybiha, subtly stressing the danger Iran poses not only to its own region, but also well beyond.

Iran has said at least one sailor was killed in the attack. For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is also not seeking escalation but “made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable” and “there must be restitution for losses.”

Pro-Ukraine backers pushing to advance sanctions bill

Zelensky has a busy itinerary during his latest visit to Washington. Besides his White House meeting, Zelensky will head to the Capitol to meet with senators on Tuesday evening after Graham’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Republican leadership is hoping to advance Graham’s sanctions legislation this week, although the Senate is juggling several other priorities before lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess.

The bill has dozens of backers from both major political parties and is seen as the main policy tribute to Graham, who died unexpectedly this month from a tear in his aorta. It imposes tariffs on goods from the world’s top five purchasers of Russia oil or natural gas, including China and India.

The legislation also includes sanctions against Putin; senior Russian political and military leaders; and Russian financial institutions and energy projects.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.