Zelensky considering visit to Washington next week for Graham funeral, talks with Trump, media reports

President Volodymyr Zelensky is considering a visit to Washington next week to attend the funeral of late U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, with the trip including bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, Suspilne reported on July 22, citing diplomatic sources.

According to Suspilne, Zelensky received an invite to attend Graham's funeral, which is set to take place at the Washington National Cathedral on July 28. Sources told Suspilne that the President's Office has not yet confirmed whether Zelensky would be available to make the trip, with the administration considering sending a high-ranking official in his place. The President's Office has not yet finalized the details of the potential visit.

A staunch ally of both Ukraine and President Trump, Graham suddenly died July 11 after returning from a trip to Kyiv, after announcing he had reached an agreement with the White House on the long-delayed Russia sanctions bill.

The potential visit to the United States comes amid a six-month freeze in peace negotiations among Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington.

Diplomatic efforts between Washington and Kyiv appeared to pick up on July 22 amid a visit from Trump's U.S. envoy to NATO, Matt Whitaker to Kyiv to discuss deliveries of Patriot missiles and the pending U.S.-Ukraine Drone Deal.

A separate phone conversation between Zelensky and Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner was also held later in the day.

Following the call with Trump's envoys, Zelensky said officials held "a good and important conversation about how to intensify diplomacy and bring peace closer," adding that the teams planned to "remain in close contact...to continue working on everything we discussed."

While Witkoff and Kushner did not personally visit Kyiv, Zelensky's talks with members of the Trump team signal a thaw in the U.S. government's attitude towards Ukraine.

Following months of uncertainty and stalled diplomacy, Trump said for the first time that Washington would grant Ukraine licenses to produce their own Patriot interceptors. The announcement, delivered alongside Zelensky at the NATO summit in Turkey in July, marked a crucial win for Ukraine as it faces a shortage of effective defensive weapons against Russian ballistic missiles.

Additional progress benefiting Kyiv was also made earlier last week when a bipartisan group of U.S. senators unveiled a revised version of the bill championed by Graham that slaps sanctions on top buyers of Russian oil and gas, aiming to undercut the Kremlin's wartime revenues.

The bill, which has gathered the necessary support among U.S. lawmakers to overcome the Senate filibuster, would impose a tariff of up to 100% on the top five buyers of Russian energy, among other measures.