The White House reportedly asked Ukrainian officials if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would wear a suit for his meeting with President Donald Trump, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Axios on Monday.
Zelenskyy, who is well-known for wearing casual and military outfits during official diplomatic visits, will reportedly wear the same black jacket he donned for the NATO summit in June, sources told Axios. Trump has expressed annoyance with the Ukrainian President in the past for his choice in attire, with Zelenskyy’s refusal to wear common formal clothing for official visits reportedly being one minor factor leading to their explosive exchange in February.
While the White House prefers Zelenskyy to wear a full suit, they reportedly don’t expect him to wear a tie, sources told Axios.
The White House did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
“It would be great if he wore a tie but we don’t expect him to,” one source told Axios.
Despite his wear, officials told Axios that they don’t expect the meeting to degenerate into something akin to the leader’s February meeting.
“They’ve traveled very, very far, both of them. Zelensky will not show him pictures of dead children and then act like it’s somehow his fault. The president has learned to just sort of like, you know, file away any irritations and go forward,” one Trump advisor told Axios.
Zelenskyy will be joined by a large entourage of European leaders in the White House on Monday, aiming to discuss terms for a peace settlement in the war after Trump met with Putin on Friday. Trump has told the Ukrainian leader to forgo his aspirations of joining NATO and taking back the Crimean Peninsula as further details continued to be hashed out behind the scenes.
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