“As you know, Zelensky has asked to meet me. I will meet him tomorrow morning around 9:45 a.m. (1:45 p.m. GMT) at Trump Tower” in New York, Donald Trump announced Thursday during a speech to the press.
Volodymyr Zelensky will arrive at their meeting assured of the support of the current administration, but obviously worried about American aid in the event of Donald Trump’s victory in the November 5 election, which promises to be very close.
Last week, the Ukrainian presidency announced that Mr. Zelensky planned to meet the former president during his visit to the United States.
But this interview had been put on hold, according to the American press, the Republican not having appreciated an interview given by the Ukrainian leader to the New Yorker magazine — in which he asserted that the Republican candidate “doesn’t really know how to stop this war”.
Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that if he were re-elected, he would resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” — without ever explaining how.
“I think I will be able to quickly conclude an agreement between President Putin and President Zelensky,” he repeated again on Thursday, assuring that he did not want a “capitulation” of Ukraine, as the says her Democratic rival for the White House, Kamala Harris.
The day before, the Republican had directly attacked the Ukrainian leader, accusing him of “refusing to conclude an agreement” with Moscow.
– “Best salesperson on the planet” –
“We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to conclude an agreement, Zelensky,” he denounced Wednesday during a campaign rally in North Carolina.
“Every time he came to our country, he left with 60 billion dollars, I think he is the best salesman on the planet,” he quipped.
The meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky 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. In order to “help Ukraine win this war”, he had announced a little earlier an “increase in security aid” – but without giving the green light hoped for by kyiv to fire missiles towards Russia long range made in the USA.
“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 candidate Kamala Harris reassured him during a separate meeting.
“There are people in my country who would force Ukraine to give up large portions of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine declare itself neutral, and who would demand that Ukraine renounce military relations with other countries These proposals are the same as those of Putin and they are not peace proposals They are capitulation proposals, which is dangerous and irresponsible,” she added in an allusion to her 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”.
