Donald Trump said he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, claiming he can strike a deal to end the brutal war with Russia.
“I believe I can make a deal between President Putin and President Zelensky fairly quickly,” Trump predicted during his speech to the press in Trump Tower on Thursday.
“I believe I can fix that,” Trump said. “It’s not my fight, but it’s a fight to save humanity.”
At the same time, Trump complained about the American burden in financing Ukraine’s defense. ‘They should equalize. They should start paying,” Trump said.
Although the US has sent billions in military aid, Europe has now overtaken the US in aid pledges, the US State Department said Kiel Institute.
“I see what’s happening there is very, very sad,” Trump said. He also disputed Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments rejecting proposals that would see Ukraine cede territory to the invading Russians.
‘Let’s be clear: these are not peace proposals. Instead, they are proposals for surrender,” Harris said.
Former President Donald Trump said on the eve of his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky that he thinks he can ‘make a deal’ to end the war in Ukraine
“It’s not a surrender,” Trump said when asked about the criticism. His planned meeting with Zelensky comes after Trump’s Republican allies complained that parts of his trip amounted to “election interference,” a widening partisan divide over Ukraine.
“Putin never even thought about going in, and it was the apple of his eye,” Trump said, referring to the 2022 invasion, which came after Russia invaded the Donbas region in 2014.
He said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin “had a very good relationship, despite the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” he said, referring to the Russia investigation.
When asked by a reporter whether Ukraine should give up part of its own land to end the war, Trump replied: “We’ll see what happens.”
‘Let’s get some rest. We need peace. We must stop the death and destruction. Don’t you think?’ he concluded.
Trump’s confirmation of a meeting came shortly after he posted on X that Zelensky was looking to meet with him, just in the latest message between the two men to make their complex relationship public.
Trump has long defended the “perfect” 2019 phone call with Zelensky, in which Trump asked him to “investigate” the allegations about Hunter Biden and asked him to do a “favor” by investigating the 2016 election that was part of his first impeachment.
The message, which Trump posted without explanation, is titled “Denys Sienik, Deputy Ambassador of Ukraine, and is signed simply “Volodymyr.”
“Dear Donald, I hope you are doing well,” it reads, referring to a “very good phone call.”
The leader whose country is fending off a Russian invasion and refers to a request for a meeting between the two men in New York. It defends its position in a ‘just peace’ and says: ‘I always speak with great respect about everything that concerns you.’
Trump dropped the message just as Zelensky appeared at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Vice President Harris on Thursday
Zelensky also met with President Joe Biden, whose administration is pushing out billions in military aid to Ukraine before the end of the year.
Trump will sit down with his former phone companion at a time when his Republicans Senate allies are furious over Zelensky’s recent trip to Pennsylvania, where the Ukrainian leader appeared with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and signed 155mm ammunition that a U.S. factory is sending. defend his country.
“Zelensky is openly campaigning for the Democrats today in the battleground Pennsylvania, some fifty days after our presidential election. Unreal,” said Republican Senator Eric Schmitt (Mo.)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, another Trump ally, said the move was “intended to help Democrats” and said it was “election interference.”
Zelensky called Vance “too radical” in an interview with the New Yorker and said, “The idea that the world should end this war at the expense of Ukraine is unacceptable.”
During his debate with Harris, Trump dodged the question when asked directly whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia. ‘I want the war to stop. I want to save lives,” Trump said.
And on Wednesday, Trump said at a rally in North Carolina that Ukraine “should have given up a little bit.”
“We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelensky,” Trump said.
Zelensky also met with President Biden to discuss his ‘victory plan’, and the US announced new steps to send billions in military aid to Kiev before the end of the year, after Congress failed to issue new authority to craft.
Biden announced plans on Thursday to send $8 billion in additional US aid to Ukraine. But he has resisted Ukraine’s request to fire American-made missiles deeper into Russia.
