Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave US counterpart Donald Trump a golf club during his visit to Washington this week that had belonged to a serviceman fighting Russia’s invasion, Kyiv said on Tuesday.
Trump, an avid golfer who owns several courses, accepted the gift and presented Zelensky with symbolic keys to the White House in return, the Ukrainian leader’s office said.
The warm exchange marks a stark turnaround from February, when Zelensky left the White House early following a televised shouting match with Trump and US Vice-President J.D. Vance.Since that tense encounter, Zelensky has sought to repair ties, flattering Trump in public appearances and praising his efforts to secure peace.
“The president of Ukraine presented the president of the United States with a golf club,” Zelensky’s office said on Tuesday.
The club previously belonged to Kostiantyn Kartavtsev – a Ukrainian soldier who “had lost a leg in the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion while saving his brothers-in-arms”, the office said.
Zelensky showed Trump a video of Kartavtsev, it said.
