By MICHELLE L. PRICE, ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and LISA MASCARO
NEW YORK (AP) — Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met personally Donald Trump on Friday as public tensions rose between the 2 over Ukraine's defense against Russian invasion and within the midst of the U.S. presidential election.
“We both want this to end and we both want a fair deal to be done,” Trump told Fox News while standing next to Zelensky after a 40-minute meeting. “The president wants it to end and he wants it to end as quickly as possible. He wants a fair transaction to take place.”
Zelensky said the war shouldn’t have began, adding that pressure should be placed on Russian President Vladimir Putin and peace should be dropped at the families of those killed.
“We must do everything we can to pressure him to end this war. He is in our territory. This is the most important thing to understand. He’s in our territory.”
The meeting got here at a critical time within the Russia-Ukraine war as election day approaches within the United States. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, have taken starkly different approaches toward Ukraine. Zelensky was desperate to maintain good relations with the United States, his country's largest supplier of weapons and money for the war. But the longer term of that support can be unsure if Trump won the election.
Trump, who has praised his good relationship with Putin and called the Russian leader “pretty smart” over his invasion of Ukraine, has criticized U.S. support for Ukraine for months and derided Zelensky as a “salesman” for persuading Washington to offer weapons and money to its military because it tries to fend off Moscow. On Friday, Trump raised his first impeachment inquiry, pursued by congressional Democrats, after he asked Zelensky for a “favor” – to analyze Joe Biden, now president, and Biden's son Hunter, who’s on the board of a Ukrainian gas company was energetic.
When Trump asked for the “favor,” he withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine while it fought Russia-backed separatists on its eastern border. He was later acquitted of the costs by a Republican-led Senate.
“He could have stood out and played sweet,” Trump said. “And he didn’t do that. He said, “President Trump has done absolutely nothing wrong.” He said it loud and clear.”
Zelensky told reporters In October 2019, when Congress opened its impeachment inquiry, it determined that there had been “no extortion” by Trump. He also told reporters, “I don't want to interfere in the election in any way” and sought to publicly and privately distance himself from U.S. domestic politics.
But The Associated Press subsequently reported that despite Zelenskyy's denials, US officials were aware that he was being pressured by the Trump administration to analyze Biden even before he spoke to Trump on the phone in regards to the “favor.”
Friday's meeting almost wasn't scheduled, though Zelensky's office said something was planned in the course of the Ukrainian leader's visit to the U.N. General Assembly, where he’ll propose his endgame to allies.
In an interview with The New Yorker published earlier this week, Zelensky suggested that Trump doesn’t understand the conflict and is oversimplifying it. The Ukrainian leader said Trump's vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, was “too radical” and essentially advocated for Ukraine to “make a sacrifice” by “giving up its territories.”
Trump attacked Zelensky and Ukraine twice this week. He spoke in North Carolina on Wednesday referred calling Ukraine “destroyed” and its people “dead.”
“Any deal — the worst deal — would have been better than the one we have now,” Trump said. “If they had made a bad deal it would have been much better. They would have given up a little and everyone would live and every building would be built and every tower would age another 2,000 years.”
In the meantime, Harris stood by Zelenskyj's side on Thursday and said that Trump's urging Ukraine to quickly reach a deal to finish the war were “not suggestions for peace” but “suggestions for surrender.” Trump said Thursday he was not advocating give up.
As he prepared for Friday's meeting, Trump was asked by a reporter whether Ukraine could win the war and he replied: “Sure.” They could.”
He said of Zelensky: “We have a very good relationship. And, as you know, I also have a very good relationship with President Putin. And if we win, I think we will solve the problem very quickly.”
Zelensky interrupted Trump's remarks by saying, “I hope we have more good relations between us.” Before moving on to a different query, Trump interjected, “But, you know, it takes two to tango.”
Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Mascaro reported from Washington.
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com