Trump, meeting with Zelenskyy, says he has a ‘good relationship’ with Putin – National
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met face-to-face with Donald Trump on Friday amid a public spat between the two over Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.
“I think we have the same opinion that the war in Ukraine should be stopped and Putin will not win,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After arriving together in a conference room 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 as Election Day in the US approaches. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival, have taken very different approaches to Ukraine.
Trump has for months been critical of US support for Ukraine and derided Zelenskyy as a “traitor” for lobbying Washington to provide weapons and funding to its forces as it tries to rein in Moscow. On Friday, however, Trump presented his first impeachment in 2019, which Democrats in Congress pursued after asking for a “favor” from Zelenskyy – to investigate Joe Biden, now president, and Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
At the time Trump was asking for “mercy,” he was withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine as it battles Russian-backed separatists on its eastern border.
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“He could play well and play well,” Trump said. “And he didn’t do that. He said, ‘President Trump has done nothing wrong.’ He said it loud and clear.”
Zelenskyy told reporters in October 2019, when Congress launched its impeachment inquiry, that there was no “fraud” from Trump. He also told reporters, “I don’t want to interfere in the election,” trying to distance himself publicly and privately at the time from American domestic politics.
Friday’s meeting was apparently unscheduled, although Zelenskyy’s office said something had been planned during the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the UN General Assembly, where he held his last meeting with his allies.
In an interview with the New Yorker published earlier this week, Zelenskyy said that Trump does not understand and is facilitating the conflict. The Ukrainian leader said that Trump’s counterpart JD Vance is “very strong” and has advocated that Ukraine “give up” by “giving up its territory.”
Trump has ripped Zelenskyy and Ukraine on two separate occasions this week. Speaking Wednesday in North Carolina, he called Ukraine “broken” and its people “dead.”
“Any deal — a very bad deal — would have been better than what we have now,” Trump said. “If they made a bad deal it would have been better. They would slow down and everyone would be alive and all the buildings would be built and all the towers would age for another 2,000 years. “
Meanwhile, Harris on Thursday stood by Zelenskyy and said that Trump’s push for Ukraine to immediately terminate the ceasefire agreement “are not proposals for peace,” but “proposals for surrender.” Trump on Thursday said he does not recommend surrender.
As he prepared to sit down at Friday’s meeting, Trump was asked by a reporter if Ukraine could win the war and he replied, “Of course. They can.”
He said of Zelenskyy: “We have a very good relationship. And I have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And if we win, I think we will solve it very quickly.”
Zelenskyy cut off Trump’s remarks by saying, “I hope we have a good relationship between us.”
– Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Mascaro from Washington.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
