Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met face-to-face with Donald Trump on Friday as public tensions rose between the two over Ukraine’s defense against a Russian invasion.
“I think we have a common point of view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped and that Putin cannot win,” Zelensky said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After they arrived together at the convention hall on Friday, Trump said: “The fact that we are together today is a very good sign.”
The meeting came at a critical time in the Russia-Ukraine war with Election Day approaching in the United States, with Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival, taking very different approaches to Ukraine.
Trump has for months criticized US support for Ukraine and mocked Zelensky as a “salesman” for convincing Washington to provide weapons and funding for his military as he tries to fend off Moscow. However, on Friday, Trump raised his first impeachment case of 2019, which congressional Democrats pursued after he asked Zelensky for a “favor” — namely to investigate Joe Biden, the current president, and Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the company’s board. Ukrainian gas company.
At the time Trump requested the “favor,” he was withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine as it fought Russian-backed separatists on its eastern border.
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“He could have pretended and played nice,” Trump said. “And he didn’t. He said, ‘President Trump has done absolutely nothing wrong.’ He said it loud and clear.”
Zelensky told reporters in October 2019, as Congress was launching its impeachment investigations, that there was no “blackmail” from Trump. He also told reporters: “I do not want to interfere in any way in the elections,” trying to distance himself publicly and privately from the internal politics of the United States.
Almost no date has been set for Friday’s meeting although Zelensky’s office said something was planned during the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the UN General Assembly, during which he was making his final pitch to allies.
In an interview with The New Yorker published earlier this week, Zelensky implied that Trump does not understand the conflict and is oversimplifying it. The Ukrainian leader said Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance was “too extreme” and essentially called on Ukraine to “make a sacrifice” by “giving up its territory.”
Trump criticized Zelensky and Ukraine on two separate occasions this week. Speaking Wednesday in North Carolina, he referred to Ukraine as “devastated” and its people as “dead.”
“Any deal — the worst deal — would have been better than what we have now,” Trump said. “If they had made a bad deal it would have been much better. They would have given up a little and everyone would have lived and every building would have been built and every tower would have lived for another 2,000 years.
Meanwhile, Harris on Thursday sided with Zelensky and said Trump’s push for Ukraine to quickly reach an agreement to end the war “are not proposals for peace,” but rather “proposals for surrender.” Trump said on Thursday that he was not calling for surrender.
As he prepared to sit down for Friday’s meeting, a reporter asked Trump if Ukraine could win the war and he replied: “Absolutely. They can.”
“We have a very good relationship,” he said of Zelensky. I also have a very good relationship, you know, with President Putin. If we win, I think we will solve this problem very quickly.
Zelensky interrupted Trump’s remarks, saying: “I hope we will have more good relations between us.”
– Gomez Lacon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Mascaro reported from Washington.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
