Donald Trump has agreed to a last-minute meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, despite repeatedly criticizing him during his US election campaign.
The Republican Party nominee announced at a news conference that the Ukrainian leader would visit Trump Tower on Friday, according to the BBC, just days after Trump criticized Zelensky for refusing to “make a deal” with Moscow.
The former US president appears to have changed his mind, as earlier reports from his campaign said a meeting between the two was highly unlikely.
The two leaders have a stormy relationship. Trump was indicted in 2019 on charges that he pressured Zelensky to find incriminating information about the Biden family. A transcript of the conversation revealed that Trump had urged Zelensky to investigate Biden, as well as his son.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Trump has repeatedly reiterated Moscow’s arguments for war. During the presidential debate in September, he refrained from clearly answering whether he wants Ukraine to emerge victorious from the conflict.
Trump says he can make a deal to end the war
Announcing the meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Trump repeated his claim that he could “close a deal” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky “very quickly.”
But the former president declined to elaborate on his plan and declined to say whether he believes Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end the war.
“It is a shame what is happening in Ukraine. So many deaths, so much destruction. It’s a terrible thing,” Trump told reporters in New York on Thursday.
On Thursday night, Trump released a screenshot of a text message from President Zelensky that was relayed to him by Ukraine’s deputy ambassador to the US. In the message, the Ukrainian leader requested a meeting with the former president, saying “it is important to have personal contact and understand each other 100%.”
The meeting with Trump is in the midst of a Zelenskyi-Republican conflict
Friday’s meeting comes amid tension between Zelensky and the Republican party ahead of November’s US presidential election.
Some Republicans were angered by Zelensky’s visit to a weapons factory in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, along with top Democrats, including the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, earlier this week.
Zelensky’s trip to this crucial state was characterized by leading Republicans as bias during the election season. In a public letter, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said the visit was “designed to help Democrats” and claimed it constituted “election interference”.
Trump has become increasingly critical of continued US funding to Ukraine, and in recent days has stepped up his attacks on Zelensky, calling him “the best salesman in the world”.
Instead, Zelensky recently told The New Yorker magazine that he believes Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war.”
When asked about Zelensky’s comments on Thursday, Trump replied: “I think I disagree with him. He doesn’t know me.”
Zelensky met with Biden and Harris at the White House
On Thursday, Zelensky met with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House to discuss his “victory plan”, which he hopes will pressure Russia to agree to a diplomatic solution to the end of the war.
A few hours earlier, Biden had announced an additional $7.9 billion (£5.9 billion) military aid package to Ukraine.
As Zelensky visited the US, drone attacks continued in Ukraine. On Thursday night, three people were killed and 14 others injured in a Russian drone attack on Izmail, a port city on the Danube River.
Russia has targeted Ishmael’s grain export facilities in the past. However, prosecutors say two boys aged three and 13, as well as a 14-year-old girl, were among those injured in the latest attack.
Romania’s defense ministry said it was possible that one of the Russian drones involved in the attack briefly crossed the border with NATO member Romania.
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