Donald Trump promised this Friday quickly end the war in Ukraine If he wins the November elections in the United States, then to meet with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in New York.
“This is a war that should never have happened and we will solve it”said the Republican candidate for the White House in Trump Tower, without explaining how. “It’s a complicated puzzle (…) too many deaths,” he added and estimated that an agreement can be “reached that is good for both parties.”
“Very good relationship”
Before the meeting, Trump praised the “very good relationship” he has with Zelensky but also with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I hope we have better relations,” the Ukrainian president reacted, visibly upset.
Trump declared after the meeting that he wants “fair treatment for all” the actors involved in the war in Ukraine and assured that he would resolve said conflict “very quickly” if he wins the November elections.
In turn, the Ukrainian president told the press, in the presence of Trump, that both believe that the war in Ukraine must end. “I think we have a common vision that the war in Ukraine has to stop, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin cannot win, and Ukraine has to prevail. And I want to discuss with you the details of our plan.”Zelensky noted from Trump Tower in Manhattan before they held their closed-door meeting.
At the end of the meeting, Zelensky said he was “grateful” for the “very productive meeting.” “I presented our victory plan and we thoroughly reviewed the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of the war for our people,” he said in a message on the X social network.
Visiting the United States since Sunday, Zelensky met with the former US president after receiving support from the current Democratic government, but obviously concerned about the future of aid to his war-torn country if Trump wins on November 5. November.
The Republican candidate, who has made “America first” one of the axes of his campaign to return to the presidency, regularly denounces the enormous sums of money disbursed by Washington for kyiv since 2022.
This same week, the septuagenarian former president He described Zelensky as “the best salesman in the world.” “Every time he comes to our country, he leaves with $60 billion,” he joked.
The last time Zelensky and Trump met was in 2019, when the Republican still occupied the Oval Office. Zelensky, who addressed the United Nations General Assembly this week, is in the United States calling for greater support in his country’s fight against Russia.
Biden and Harris support
The meeting between Trump and Zelensky took place a day after the Ukrainian president met at the White House with the president Joe Biden and with the vice president Kamala Harrisafter passing through the US Congress. “Russia will not win,” Biden assured the Ukrainian president when receiving him in the Oval Office.
To “help Ukraine win this war,” the US president announced Thursday an “increase in security aid,” without mentioning the green light that kyiv is waiting to fire long-range missiles made in the United States into Russian territory. .
“This war can be won and a just peace can be achieved, but only with the United States,” argued the Ukrainian head of state, who presented his “plan for victory”, aimed at putting an end to the Russian invasion that began on December 24. February 2022.
“My support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering,” reassured the Democratic candidate for the White House, Kamala Harris.in another meeting. And he criticized those who “would force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory, those who would demand that Ukraine accept neutrality,” referring to Trump.
China worries
For his part, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinkenconveyed this Friday to his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, his “serious concern” about the support that, according to Washington, Beijing provides to Russia’s military industry for the war in Ukraine.
The heads of diplomacy of the two world powers met in New York on the occasion of the UN General Assembly, in what was the seventh meeting between the two.
“It makes no sense when Beijing says, on the one hand, that it wants peace and an end to the conflict, but on the other hand, it is allowing its companies to take measures that help” Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war, Blinken said. at a press conference.
Russian advance
On the ground, Russia claimed responsibility for the capture of Ukrainsk on Thursday. This town is located about 30 km west of the city of Donetsk, capital of the homonymous region, whose annexation Moscow claims.
Russian troops are trying to seize the entire Donetsk region, and demand that kyiv withdraw its soldiers from there, as well as from the neighboring regions of Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as a precondition for opening peace talks.
