Standing next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prior to their meeting in New York on Friday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump declared that he would collaborate with both Russia and Ukraine to put an end to their conflict.
During their first meeting since 2019, Zelensky told reporters at Trump Tower that he wanted to talk to Trump about his “victory plan” for Ukraine. He claimed that in order to provide Ukraine with the strong backing it needs in its ongoing conflict with Russia, he was meeting with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic opponent in the Nov. 5 race.
Trump acknowledged Zelensky’s accomplishments and stated that he was close friends with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia.
“We have a very good relationship (with Zelensky), and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin,” Trump explained. “And I think if we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” he continued.
Throughout the latter’s remarks to journalists, Zelensky and Trump stood next to each other, with the president of Ukraine occasionally turning to face him.
Using his US visit, Zelensky has pushed his “victory plan,” which a US official defined as a repackaged call for increased weaponry and the removal of long-range missile use restrictions. The official stated that the plan assumed Russia’s final defeat in the conflict. Certain officials view the goal as unrealistic.
In response to a reporter’s question on Thursday about whether or not Ukraine should cede land to Russia in order to end the conflict—a question that Kiev finds unacceptable—Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”
Even yet, Trump’s statement on Friday that he was pleased to meet with Zelensky represented a significant shift from some of his earlier remarks made during the campaign.
According to Trump on Monday, Zelensky was hoping Harris would win. Further evidence that Zelensky is “the greatest salesman of all time” comes from the fact that the United States and Europe have given his country military aid totaling billions of dollars.
The president has been through a lot, so it’s an honor to have him here, Trump remarked on Friday. “He’s been through a tremendous amount, like probably nobody else, almost nobody else in history, if you really get right down to it, and we’re going to discuss this and see what we could come up with.”
Despite not taking office until late January 2025, Trump declared that he would start working towards a settlement of the Ukraine conflict as soon as he won the election on November 5.
While in the US for the UN General Assembly, Zelensky met with Democratic President Joe Biden and Senator Harris on Thursday.
Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and an ally of Harris, took Zelensky to a weapons factory over the weekend. Due in large part to Pennsylvania’s significance as a battleground state that is predicted to determine the US election, the visit infuriated some congressional Republicans and upset Trump’s campaign.
Even though Zelensky’s visit to the United States appears to have caused the former president to reconsider, people close to Trump and his campaign had stated that a meeting seemed improbable as late as Thursday.
