Watch Trump show off golf club gifted by Zelensky from hero Ukrainian sergeant who took up sport after losing leg in war
The putter, engraved with the phrase "let's putt peace together", was picked out by Kostyantyn Kartavtsev who lost his leg during the war with Russia.
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Junior Sergeant Kartavtsev took up the global sport beloved by the US President after his serious war injury.
Doctors recommended he played golf after fitting him with a prosthetic leg.
They said it would help to clear his mind from the horrors of war and also act as a way for him to get used to the artificial limb.
Zelensky handed the putter to the President as the pair sat down in the Oval Office on Monday for crunch war talks.
Kartavtsev had also recorded a touching video for Trump to watch as he checked out the latest club for his growing collection.
It saw him give an emotional plea for US support as he detailed the story of how he fell in love with golf.
The heroic soldier said: "I am one of those soldiers you have spoken about - they're courageous, they are good soldiers.
"I lost a leg rescuing my fellow men, and am recovering here with golf.'
'Golf took me out into the fresh air, helped me breathe freely and switch from war to peace; it gave me the path to healing.
'Today, I give you my [putter,] not as an athlete, but as a warrior who dreams of peace through strength."
Kartavtsev ended the message with a final plea as he said: "Please help Ukraine live again without war."
An emotional Trump was touched by the gift as he responded by saying: "Every time I sink a putt, I'll be thinking of you."
Zelensky also showed him footage of a smiling Kartavtsev swinging a club around a golf course.
After watching, Trump said: "I know a lot about golf, and your swing is great.
"It looks beautiful, and you're going to be a very good golfer very soon, but I also want to thank you for this putter.
"It's beautiful and it's made with real love, and it's given to me with real love from you, and I appreciate that."
The idea of sending Trump the putter came from Kartavtsev directly as he contacted the Ukrainian president's office to ask if he could deliver the gift, Kyiv officials told the New York Post.
Kartavtsev has been able to take up golf thanks to the Ukrainian Golf Federation's United By Golf program which focuses on veterans' rehabilitation.
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The organisation said in a statement: "This is a gift from a man who knows the true price of peace.
"Like all those on the frontlines today, he continues to defend our freedom.
"The veteran community of the United By Golf club thanks Donald Trump for his leadership on the path to peace for Ukraine and his kind words to our brother-in-arms."
The gift helped to make sure the meeting between Trump and Zelensky went positively after a disastrous summit back in February.
Zelensky was branded "disrespectful" after a heated row with the President and VP JD Vance saw him unceremoniously booted out of the White House.
Ukraine's wartime leader also offered up a sporting gift during this first Oval Office showdown.
He brought Ukrainian icon Oleksandr Usyk's undisputed WBC world heavyweight title belt which he earned against Tyson Fury.
The gold belt was seen in the background of the now infamous footage of the three-way shouting match.
How Zelensky won over Trump this time around
By Patrick Harrington
VOLODYMYR Zelensky strolled away from the White House on Monday beaming - a far cry from February's disaster clash when he was banished early.
The Ukrainian hailed the summit with Trump and European leaders as the "best" yet - and bagged a big win with the first confirmation of US security guarantees.
Here's a breakdown of all the tactics Zelensky used to woo the President...
Zelensky thanked the US and Trump at least a dozen of times during their meeting - including eight within the first minute.
He also impressed with his military-style suit which Trump personally said he was thankful for after Zel sparked fury with his outfit choice previously.
Being flanked by a string of Trump's favourite world leaders in Italy's Meloni, France's Macron and Finland's Stubb helped Zelensky during negotiations due to Trump's admiration of his allies.
Another key tactic saw Zelensky be 'trained up' to handle Trump by European leaders prior to the crunch one-on-one meeting
Zelensky also came armed with gifts for the president including the golf club and a letter from his wife to Melania.
The meeting of the two leaders was far more successful this time around with Zelensky even being backed by a string of his top European allies.
Talks proved to be very productive, according to all those involved, with a peace agreement now on the verge of being agreed.
The next step to finalise any plans will see a meeting between Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin take place.
Trump, who could make it a trilateral meeting if he attends, has got both leaders to agree to talk after over three-and-a-half years of war.
Discussions now centre around where the meeting will take place.
The White House is reportedly planning to choose Budapest as a possible location to host a possible summit.
Despite peace appearing to draw closer, Putin has continued to carry out barbaric air attacks.
Ukraine 's State Emergency Services reported a "massive drone strike" on the southern region of Odesa overnight which wounded one person as a huge fire erupted at a fuel and energy facility.
The Romanian air force announced they had sent out two Typhoon aircraft belonging to the German Air Force due to the attacks coming just a mile away from Nato territory.
Russian forces also staged brutal strikes on Sumy region where two innocent children were among a dozen civilian victims.
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The question for Europe is stark: what will they do if and when Ukraine refuses to submit? If Trump is fine about surrendering the remainder of Donbas, we can be sure that he's not likely to take a stand against Putin over such details as statues of Pushkin or the rights of the suppressed Russian Church (a major grievance for religious-minded MAGA supporters). J.D. Vance, the US Vice-President, has made his position on Europe clear. 'This is your neck of the woods… you guys have got to step up and take a bigger role in this thing,' he said earlier this month. 'If you care so much about this conflict you should be willing to [fund] this war yourself.' The US, for its part, 'wants to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing, we want to stop the killing', he added. Trump has repeatedly promised to do his best to play the peacemaker. But if the Ukrainians and their allies don't wish to agree, Washington will walk away. 'Keep fighting,' wrote Trump last week. 'Good luck.' The brutal truth is that for the past three years the Europeans have been lying to Ukraine and themselves. In the spring of 2022, Europe, led by Boris Johnson, encouraged Zelensky to fight on and promised Ukraine 'as much support as they need for as long as they need it'. Ukraine kept its part of the bargain, and with the help of hundreds of billions in military and financial aid pushed Putin's far larger army back from over half of the territory it once occupied. That's an extraordinary achievement. But it hasn't been enough to win. And by this point many of Kyiv's most passionate defenders in Europe are starting to acknowledge that there is little military or political point in fighting on. Others, like the Baltic nations, disagree. For those allies who believe that it's time to call it a day, the main point that remains to be decided is how Ukraine's reduced new borders can be protected in a way that Putin will not dare to challenge. Starmer and Emmanuel Macron's idea of putting Nato boots on the ground is foolish and misunderstands that the basis of Putin's paranoid logic in starting the war was to avoid precisely that outcome. The 'Nato Article Five-like' security guarantees of which Italy's Giorgia Meloni spoke in Washington this week (albeit accompanied by extravagant air quotes) sound formidable. The problem is that security guarantees have to be credible to work. And will Putin believe that Starmer or Macron will send their voters' sons to fight over Donbas, when they have already said that their proposed minuscule peacekeeping force will be 'backstopped' by US air power? Of more practical use is a proposal to create a network of air defences made of Patriot batteries and drones along the length of Ukraine's border, funded by Europe. That's what Ukraine's reported offer to buy $100 billion in US weaponry is about, and includes a staggering $50 billion to develop new-generation drones in partnership with the world's biggest experts in Ukraine itself. Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has called Trump the 'appeaser-in-chief' and warned that the peace process could be 'another Munich 1938', when independent Czechoslovakia was sacrificed to Hitlerite aggression. But that is a bad analogy. At Munich, Sir Neville Chamberlain failed to avert war. Today's Ukraine, with western help, has failed to win a war. But neither have they lost. Instead, like Finland in 1941, they have heroically fought a much stronger adversary to a halt and saved 80 per cent of their country and now face a bloody, attritional stalemate. Putin would like nothing more than for Europe to encourage Ukraine to fight on, and to lose even more of their land and independence. The question Ukraine's friends must ask themselves today is whether it's time to choose an unjust peace over a righteous but never-ending war.
