Amid tensions between the Republican Party and Ukraine over aid to Ukraine, Trump wants to meet Zelensky

CNN
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Former President Donald Trump said Friday that if elected he would be willing to work out a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, emphasizing his good relationship with Vladimir Putin even as the former president stood next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump and Zelensky met in New York on Friday, giving the Ukrainian leader the opportunity to personally address the Republican presidential candidate, who is openly skeptical about further US security aid to Ukraine against Russia.

Tensions between the two men – who had both been critical of each other in the lead-up to the meeting – became clear during a question-and-answer session with reporters before the meeting.

“We have a very good relationship and, as you know, I also have a very good relationship with President Putin. And I think if we win, we will solve the problem very quickly,” Trump told reporters before his meeting with Zelensky.

“I hope that we will have even more good relations between us,” Zelenskyy interjected.

“Oh, I see,” Trump said. “It takes two to tango, you know, and we will – we will have a good meeting today. And I think the fact that we’re even together today is a very good sign.”

Friday’s meeting came at a crucial time for Zelensky in the run-up to the US elections in November. He tried this week to convince the Biden administration that his country can still win the war as long as the U.S. and other countries significantly and quickly increase military aid.

Trump has repeatedly complained about U.S. funding of Ukraine and claimed he would quickly end the war between the two sides, which began with Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022. Zelensky said this week that Trump doesn’t know how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“Hopefully we’ll get a good victory because if the other side wins, I don’t think you’re going to win anything, to be honest with you,” Trump said of the race between him and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee .

“So we’ll sit down (to) just discuss it, and if we win, I think long before I, before January 20th, before I would assume the presidency – it’s January 20th – but long before that, I think we can find something that is good for both sides. “It’s time,” Trump added. “By the way, the president (Zelensky) also knows this. He wants to get something done. He doesn’t want to do that.”

Zelensky thanked Trump for agreeing to meet with him. Recalling that it had been five years since their last meeting, he said he believed they shared a common view that Putin must be stopped.

“I think we agree that the war in Ukraine must end, Putin cannot win and Ukraine must win, and I would like to discuss the details of this with you,” Zelensky said.

After the meeting ended, Trump and Zelensky appeared together on Fox News. Trump reiterated that he believes a fair deal is possible and quick, even as Zelensky made it clear that he believes Russian troops must be completely withdrawn from Ukraine.

“I’ve learned a lot, but I don’t think I’ve changed from the point of view that we both want this thing to end and we both want a fair deal to be done.” And it has to be fair, and I think it will happen at the right time. I think it will happen,” Trump told Fox News following the meeting.

“It should stop, and the president wants it to stop. I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop, and that’s a good combination. “So we want to have a fair deal for everyone,” Trump said.

When asked what he envisioned as “fair,” Trump said it was “too early to say.”

“I have my own ideas and I’m sure the president definitely has his own ideas. But it has to be fair,” Trump said.

Zelensky recalled how Putin invaded Ukrainian territory.

“This war should not be started and I think that the problem is that Putin has killed so many people and of course we have to do everything we can to pressure him to end this war.” He is in ours Territory. That’s the most important thing. He is in our territory and how we can stop the war to pressure him as much as possible. We have to do it,” Zelensky said.

Trump said Zelensky “said the best thing” that “this is a war that should never have happened” and that another meeting between them “could very well happen.”

Trump questioned how Ukraine could rebuild and restore its cities and said, “That’s not possible.”

“By the way, you have to come to see all of us,” Zelensky said.

“I will,” Trump said. “It’s a beautiful country.”

Zelensky met with President Joe Biden and Harris at the White House on Thursday, and the Democratic candidate used the appearance to draw a stark contrast with Trump on Ukraine.

“There are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large swathes of its sovereign territory, who would demand Ukraine accept neutrality, and who would demand Ukraine forego security relationships with other nations,” Harris said .

Zelensky’s meeting with Trump a day after his visit to the White House puts him once again in the middle of a heated political campaign in the US – five years after Zelensky was caught in another domestic political firestorm in the US.

The last time Zelensky and Trump met was as part of a Democratic impeachment inquiry into Trump for denying Zelensky a visit to the White House and US aid to Ukraine while Trump tried to get the Ukrainians to investigate to announce against the then presidential candidate Biden.

Trump would ultimately be impeached by House Democrats for pressuring Zelensky to investigate Biden. The Ukrainian president, meanwhile, finally had a meeting in the Oval Office in September 2021 – with Biden.

Trump praised Zelensky for acting “like a piece of steel” during his first impeachment trial surrounding their phone call.

“He could have stepped up and played sweet, but he didn’t,” Trump said. “He said, ‘President Trump has done absolutely nothing wrong.’ He said it loud and clear, and the impeachment hoax died right there.”

At a rally on Wednesday, Trump criticized Zelensky and claimed the Ukrainian president “refuses to make a deal with Russia,” marking the former president’s clearest criticism yet of Zelensky’s handling of the war.

“These cities are gone, they are gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky. He couldn’t have made a deal that wouldn’t have been better than the situation you’re in right now. “You have a country that has been wiped out and cannot be rebuilt,” Trump said during a campaign speech in Mint Hill, North Carolina.

Trump’s Republican allies in Congress are also angry at Zelensky for visiting a munitions factory in Pennsylvania with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. They have argued that his visit to the key battleground state, home to a significant population of Ukrainian descent, had partisan motives, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling on Zelensky to fire the Ukrainian ambassador to the US. Republicans also object to Zelensky’s calling Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, “too radical” in an interview with The New Yorker.

In the same interview, Zelensky criticized Trump, saying: “I feel like Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war, even though he might think he does.” With this war, the rule is often: the deeper you go When you look at it, the less you understand.”

When Trump was asked Thursday whether he believes Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end the war, he left the question open.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters at Trump Tower.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.