He met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time in five yearsformer President Donald Trump complained about it on Friday 2019 impeachment and if re-elected, he said he would try to end the Russia-Ukraine war with a deal that is “good for both sides.”
“We’re going to work very hard with both sides to try and resolve this issue,” Trump told a small group of reporters before a closed-door meeting on Zelensky. “It has to end. It has to end. It has to end. He went through hell. His country went through hell.”
Trump said that the two leaders have a very good relationship, and as you know, I have a very good relationship with them. [Russian] the president [Vladimir] Putin.” Zelensky added that he hopes that their good relations will continue.
“It takes two to tango, and we’ll do it,” Trump replied.
The former president was scorned as a result of his 2019 impeachment the now infamous phone call with Zelensky in July of that year.
during July phone callTrump asked Zelensky to open an investigation into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. This was stated by various officials, including Bill Taylor, the chief diplomat of the United States in Ukraine Trump stopped aid to Ukraine for demanding that his government investigate the Bidens.
“It was a sham, it was just a ploy by the Democrats, and we won,” Trump said of the impeachment attempt with Zelensky on Friday. Trump has long denied wrongdoing and was acquitted in a Senate trial.
He claimed that Zelenskiy said during their phone call that Trump had done nothing wrong, adding that the Ukrainian president “said it out loud and the impeachment fraud died right there.” He praised Zelensky for being “like a piece of steel”.
Speaking briefly, Zelensky said he believed he and Trump shared the view that Ukraine should win over Russia and acknowledged the importance of the U.S. election. “We understand that after November … we hope that the power of the United States will be very strong,” he said.
This was the first one-on-one meeting between the two leaders after Trump’s impeachment. The last time they met in person was in September 2019 in the framework of the United Nations General Assembly, when Trump was the president.
The two last spoke by phone in July, when the Ukrainian leader congratulated the former president on his GOP presidential nomination and condemned the assassination attempt against Trump earlier that month.
Their meeting comes amid concerns over the future of Ukraine and its defense against Russian aggression and how the outcome of the US election will have a major impact on the fate of the war, as well as disagreements in Congress over whether to continue aid to Ukraine.
Trump said his approach to the conflict would be very different from that of his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has previously suggested that he would not support continuing to provide arms and aid to Ukraine, reversing years of US policy. Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance Ohio, he also clarified opposes the ongoing funding proposal.
Zelensky’s meeting with Trump on Friday almost fell through after the reaction to the Ukrainian president’s comments. did for The New Yorker Vance is “very radical.” In the same interview, Zelensky also expressed doubts that Trump knows how to resolve Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. “My point is that even if Trump could stop the war, he really doesn’t know think he knows how it is,” said Zelensky, adding: “The idea that the world ends this war at the expense of Ukraine is unacceptable.”
Trump has expressed confidence that he can end the war, but he has never been specific about how, and Russia has supported Ukraine, which has received significant U.S. funding since February 2022.
At a press conference on Thursday, he asked if he would promote it Ukraine will give up its lands In return for the peace deal, Trump backtracked and said the war would never have happened if he had been elected president in 2020.
On the campaign trail in Georgia on Tuesday, Trump said: “Every time Zelensky comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion. I think he’s the greatest salesman on earth. m president. I’m going to make it happen.”
Earlier this year the former president seemed open to the idea floated by some GOP senators: Loan to Ukraine in exchange for rare earth minerals of Ukraine.
If the 2024 elections lead to another divided Congress, passing additional aid could still be difficult, as many Republicans have criticized previous packages.
On Thursday, Zelensky met with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office at the White House, during which Biden announced a new aid package for Ukraine. He also met with Zelensky at the White House Harris He expressed his unwavering support to help Ukraine win the war.