Donald Trump met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky at his New York base in Trump Tower yesterday, and said it was time Russia’s war in Ukraine was settled.
The Republican presidential nominee had repeatedly criticised the Ukrainian leader on the US campaign trail, and a meeting between the pair had seemed unlikely until hours before.
As the two men stood side by side, Zelensky said he thought they had a “common view that the war has to be stopped and Putin can’t win”, adding that he would discuss with Trump details of his “victory plan”.
Despite years of differences, Trump insisted he had a very good relationship with Zelensky.“I also have a very good relationship as you know with President Putin and I think if we win [the election] we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” he said.
Afterwards, Trump and Zelensky spoke to Fox News and the former president said he “learned a lot” from the meeting.“We both want to see this end, and we both want to see a fair deal made,” he said. “It should stop and the president (Zelensky) wants it to stop, and I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop and that’s a good combination.”BBC quoted Zelensky to have said: “Putin killed so many people and of course we need to do everything to pressure him to stop this war. He’s on our territory.”
Zelensky invited Trump to visit Ukraine, and Trump replied: “I will”.The Ukrainian president later posted on his Telegram channel that the pair had a “very meaningful meeting”.“We have a common view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped. Putin cannot win. Ukrainians must win,” he wrote.Trump, meanwhile, said on his Truth Social account that if he is not elected president, “that war will never end, and will phase into WORLD WAR III”.The pair have long had a tumultuous relationship. Trump was impeached in 2019 over accusations that he pressured Zelensky to dig up damaging information on the Biden family.
A rough transcript of the call revealed Trump had urged Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, as well as Biden’s son Hunter.Standing beside Zelensky yesterday, he praised the Ukrainian leader’s handling of the issue.Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Trump has frequently repeated Moscow’s talking points about the war. During September’s presidential debate, he sidestepped a question on whether he wanted Ukraine to emerge victorious in the conflict.Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, Trump repeated his long-standing claim that he would be able to “work out something” to settle the war if he won the presidential election, long before Joe Biden leaves office in January.He has refused to elaborate when asked whether he believes Ukraine should cede territory to Russia as a means of ending the war.
