Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky will meet on Friday, after the White House hopeful launched a series of harsh accusations on the Ukrainian president’s handling of the situation with Russia.
Zelensky met a day earlier with Trump’s US election candidate Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, both of whom pledged their support for Kyiv’s battle, which has been mostly funded by the US.
Trump, who accused Zelensky of refusing to “make a deal” to settle the disagreement this week, has announced that the two will meet at 9:45 a.m. (1345 GMT) in his New York tower, Trump Tower. US media had previously claimed that the meeting would not go forward because Trump was outraged by Zelensky’s comments to The New Yorker magazine, in which he said that the Republican “doesn’t really know how to stop the war.”
Trump responded during a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday, saying, “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelensky.” Zelensky is in the United States this week, attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
US media had previously reported that the meeting would not take place because Trump was outraged by Zelensky’s statements to The New Yorker magazine, in which he stated that the Republican “doesn’t really know how to stop the war.”
He is also attempting to boost support for his country’s war effort, which is struggling on the battlefield in the third year of Moscow’s invasion.
Row with Trump
The Ukrainian president presented a so-called “victory” plan to Biden and Harris at the White House on Thursday, with Biden unveiling a fresh military aid package worth nearly $8 billion for Kyiv.
Standing alongside Zelensky, Harris did not address Trump by name, but did say that there were “some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory.” In a separate discussion with Zelensky, Biden stated that “Russia will not prevail” in the war that began in February 2022.
Zelensky, dressed in his signature military uniform, responded, “We deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side.” However, his visit has been marred by a disagreement with Trump, which highlighted how November’s US election could upend Ukraine’s support from its main ally.
Trump has long criticized the United States’ billions of dollars in support for Ukraine. He has repeated several of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points, claiming at a rally earlier this week that Ukraine could not win because Russia “beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon, that’s what they do.”
Republicans are particularly furious with Zelensky for visiting a weapons factory in the Pennsylvania battleground state of Biden’s hometown, where she accused the Ukrainian ambassador of planning a politicized event and demanded her dismissal.
Prior to the 2020 election, Trump also requested possibly harmful political materials about Biden from Zelensky when he was president; this request resulted in the first of the Republican leader’s two impeachments.
Written by Jennifer Amarachi
