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September 27, 2024 – 8:12 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Donald Trump pledged on Friday to “resolve” the war in Ukraine if he wins the US presidential election in November. He spoke after a very delicate interview with Volodymyr Zelensky.
“This war should never have happened, but we are going to resolve it,” said the former American president from New York, without explaining how. The billionaire, a candidate in the November 5 election, described the conflict as a “complex puzzle” and called for a “fair deal for everyone”.
Just before his exchange with the Ukrainian president, Donald Trump had already praised his “very good relationship” with Volodymyr Zelensky – but also with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I hope we have better relations,” reacted the Ukrainian president, visibly embarrassed. Before assuring that he and Donald Trump shared the same objective: “to end the war. »
“Best salesperson on the planet”
Traveling to the United States since Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky met the former American president, assured of the support of the current administration, but obviously worried about the future of aid to his country at war.
Donald Trump regularly denounces the staggering amounts released by Washington for kyiv since 2022. Just this week, the septuagenarian described Volodymyr Zelensky as “the best salesman on the planet”. “Every time he comes to our country, he leaves with $60 billion,” he quipped.
A meeting between the two men had been mentioned in recent days, on the occasion of Mr. Zelensky’s visit to the United States – the fourth since the start of the Russian invasion.
But that interview was put on hold, apparently because of an interview with the Ukrainian leader in which he said the Republican candidate “didn’t really know how to stop this war.” Donald Trump has in fact repeatedly claimed that if he were re-elected, he would resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” – without ever explaining how.
A first in five years
The last meeting between Donald Trump and Voloymyr Zelensky took place five years ago, almost to the day, in a radically different context.
The Republican was then in the White House and running for re-election; the Ukrainian leader, a former actor, in power for only a few months. Donald Trump had above all been accused of having frozen crucial military aid to kyiv to get his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, whose son was doing business in the country.
The two men have since spoken on the telephone, notably at the end of July after the first assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
Support from Biden and Harris
This new in-person meeting comes the day after a visit to Washington by the Ukrainian president, where he spoke with President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, after a visit to the US Congress.
“Russia will not win,” assured Joe Biden when receiving him at the White House. “This war can be won and a just peace can be concluded but only with the United States,” argued Volodymyr Zelensky, who came to present his “victory plan” aimed at putting an end to the Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022.
“My support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering,” Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris reassured him during a separate meeting.
“There are people in my country who would like to force Ukraine to abandon large portions of its sovereign territory, (…) these are proposals for capitulation, which is dangerous and irresponsible,” she added in an allusion to his Republican rival Donald Trump.
Moscow, whose troops have been making progress in recent months against kyiv’s forces, claimed Thursday the capture of Ukraïnsk, a town in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The conquest of Donbass, the Ukrainian industrial basin which includes the Donetsk region, is President Putin’s “number one priority”.
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