US President Donald Trump held separate meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, which the White House described as "positive and productive."

The two leaders were in Washington to attend the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of Israel and advocate for US aid to Ukraine. Graham died earlier this month.

Zelensky and Trump discussed Kyiv's hope that the US would help bolster its air defenses. Ahead of the visit, Zelensky was expected to press Trump to follow through on a promise made at this month's NATO summit to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.

Trump posted briefly on Truth Social that the closed-door meeting "went very well!" Zelensky later told Fox News that Trump had agreed to give Ukraine licenses for domestic production of Patriot missiles.

"He accepted that he will give us licenses," Ukraine's leader said. "Then I had a meeting with representatives of production, very strong military companies of the United States. I hope that we will do co-production."

The Patriot is one of the few air defense systems able to intercept ballistic missiles, which Russia has increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities. Each Patriot missile is estimated to cost between $3 million and $5 million. Ukraine has said it needs 25 Patriot systems.

Shortly after Zelensky left, Netanyahu arrived at the White House for talks focused heavily on the conflict in Iran. Trump has frequently criticized Israel for continuing strikes in Lebanon and ignoring a ceasefire. Netanyahu told Israeli media the two had "an understanding of a shared goal, to ensure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons."

After the meeting, the US military claimed Iranian forces attempted a surprise attack on American forces in the Middle East, but all missiles were intercepted. US and Saudi forces allegedly attacked Iranian proxies in eastern Iraq which had fired drones at Saudi energy infrastructure.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk