US President Donald Trump suggested on Friday it would be premature to give Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, saying as he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the war with Russia could probably be ended without them.

Zelensky, who came to the White House to push for the long-range US-made weapons, said however that he would be ready to swap "thousands" of Ukrainian drones in exchange for Tomahawks.

The US president's reluctant stance came a day after he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a call to hold a new summit in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks," Trump said.

Supplying Ukraine with the powerful missiles despite Putin's warnings against doing so "could mean big escalation. It could mean a lot of bad things can happen."

Trump added that he believed Putin, whom he met in Alaska in August in a summit that failed to produce a breakthrough, "wants to end the war."

Ukraine has been lobbying Washington for Tomahawks for weeks, arguing that the missiles could help put pressure on Russia to end its brutal three-and-a-half year attack.

Zelensky, meeting Trump in Washington for the third time since the US president's return to power, suggested that "the United States has Tomahawks and other missiles, very strong missiles, but they can have our 1,000s of drones."

Kyiv has made extensive use of drones since Russia invaded in February 2022.

On the eve of Zelensky's visit, Putin warned Trump in their call against delivering the weapons, saying it could escalate the war and jeopardise peace talks.

Trump said the United States had to be careful not to "deplete" its own supplies of Tomahawks, which have a range of over 1,600 kilometres.

Diplomatic talks on ending Russia's invasion have stalled since the Alaska summit.

The Kremlin said Friday that "many questions" needed resolving before Putin and Trump could meet, including who would be on each negotiating team. (AFP)