NEW YORK (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met face-to-face with Donald Trump on Friday, as public tensions grow between the two over defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion and the US presidential election approaches.
“We both want this to end, and we both want a fair deal to be reached,” Trump told Fox News, referring to the war between Russia and Ukraine as he stood next to Zelenskyy after their roughly 40-minute meeting. The president wants it to end, and he wants it to end as soon as possible. You want a fair transaction to take place.
Zelenskyy said the war should not have started and added that pressure needs to be put on Russian President Vladimir Putin and there needs to be peace for the families of those who have died.
We need to do everything to pressure him to stop this war. It is in our territory. That is the most important thing to understand. “It’s in our territory,” he declared.
The meeting took place at a critical moment in the war between both countries and while the presidential campaigns are taking place in the United States. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, have taken very different approaches to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has shown himself very willing to maintain good relations with the United States, the largest supplier of weapons and money for the war. But the future of that support will be in doubt if Trump wins the election.
Trump, who has boasted of his good relationship with Putin and has said that the Russian leader is quite smart for invading Ukraine, has for months criticized US support for kyiv and has mocked Zelenskyy, calling him a salesman for persuading Washington to provide weapons and financing to its army as it tries to defend itself from Moscow. On Friday, Trump recalled the first impeachment he faced in 2019, which Congressional Democrats tried to push after the magnate asked Zelenskyy for a favor: to investigate current President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, who I worked on the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas company.
When Trump called in, he withheld $400 million in military aid from Ukraine while it fought Russian-backed separatists on its eastern border. Subsequently, the Republican-majority Senate acquitted him of the impeachment charges.
Zelenskyy told the press in October 2019, as Congress began its impeachment inquiry, that there was no blackmail on Trump’s part. 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.
But The Associated Press later reported that, despite Zelenskyy’s denials, U.S. officials were aware that he was feeling pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Biden even before his phone call with Trump regarding the favor.
Friday’s meeting almost didn’t happen even though Zelenskyy’s office said something had been planned during the Ukrainian president’s visit to the UN General Assembly, where he is promoting to allies his request for support. .
In an interview with The New Yorker published this week, Zelenskyy suggested that Trump does not understand the conflict and oversimplifies it. The Ukrainian president said Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, was too radical and has essentially advocated for Ukraine to make a sacrifice” by “ceding its territories.
Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy and Ukraine on two separate occasions this week. Speaking Wednesday at an event in North Carolina, he noted that Ukraine was in ruins and its population had died.
As he prepared to participate in Friday’s meeting, a reporter asked Trump if Ukraine could win the war, and he responded: Sure. They could.
He said of Zelenskyy: We have a very good relationship. And I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And if we win, I think we’re going to solve it very quickly.
Zelenskyy interrupted Trump’s remarks, saying: I hope we have more good relations between us. Before moving on to another question, Trump intervened to say: But, you know, it takes two to tango.
Gómez Licán reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Mascaro from Washington.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
