In his first in-person meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in over four years, former President Donald Trump pledged to collaborate with Ukraine and Russia to seek a mutually beneficial resolution to the ongoing conflict. Following a meeting in New York City, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried to minimize past conflicts with the former president.
“My feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how,” Zelenskyy told the New Yorker earlier this week. “With this war, oftentimes, the deeper you look at it the less you understand. I’ve seen many leaders who were convinced they knew how to end it tomorrow, and as they waded deeper into it, they realized it’s not that simple.” Zelenskyy also added about Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance (R-OH), “He is too radical.
“We understand that even in any kind of future negotiations, Ukraine has to be strong. That’s what it’s about,” Zelenskyy said to Fox News‘ Griff Jenkins when asked why he met with Trump on Friday. “We spoke with Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and the Congress of the United States.”
“Ukraine, during the war in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion — two different countries. So without this experience, you can’t really understand how to stop [Russian President Vladimir Putin],” Zelenskyy continued. “And that’s what I wanted to share to president . . . and the price of this tragedy of bloody invasion of Putin.”
During the ABC presidential debate on September 10, moderators asked Trump about his stance on Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. “I want the war to stop,” Trump bluntly stated. Jenkins went on to ask if Trump’s comments about maintaining a good relationship with Putin were a concern to Zelenskyy. “Trump has relations and had relations when he was the president, during his term” and maintains “relations with a lot of countries and a lot of UN leaders,” Zelenskyy said. “Nobody kicked him, and that meant he understood that he can occupy it and go further. He can occupy new territories of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said of Putin. “He began to prepare to do this — his plan — and he did it.”
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“We have a very good relationship. I also have a very good relationship with President Putin and you know, I think if we win we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” Trump said on Friday. “We can work out something that’s good for both sides, it’s time. And by the way, the president wants to get something done, he doesn’t want to do this,” Trump said later in the day while standing next to the Ukrainian leader. Trump also added that “it takes two to tango.”
“I think the fact that we’re even together today is a good sign, and hopefully we’ll have a good victory because if the other side wins, I don’t think we’re going to have victories with anything,” Trump continued.
Following the hour-long meeting, a member of the Ukrainian delegation described the discussion with Donald Trump as very productive, telling POLITICO, “Everything went really well.” “Trump was really attentive. We discussed our plan in detail and talked about some key things,” said a Ukrainian official, who did not provide further specifics.
