Trump ‘hasn’t changed’ his mind after Zelensky meeting
Former US President Donald Trump has said that he “learned a lot” during a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on Friday, but that he has not changed his view that the conflict must be settled with a “fair deal.”
Trump and Zelensky met at Trump Tower in New York, after Zelensky had been heavily criticized by Republicans for appearing to campaign for Trump’s presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, earlier this week. At a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, Trump accused Zelensky of “making little nasty aspersions” toward him, describing the Ukrainian leader as “a man who refuses to make a deal.”
In a short statement to reporters before the meeting, Trump boasted that he had a “very good relationship” with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, promising to “get [the Ukraine conflict] resolved very quickly” if he wins November’s election.
Appearing beside Zelensky afterwards, Trump said: “I learned a lot, but I think I haven’t changed from the standpoint that we both want to see this end and we both want to see a fair deal made.”
Asked how he would achieve this, Trump said that it is “too early to say that.”
“I have my own ideas, and I’m sure the president definitely has his own ideas,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the conflict never would have happened if he were president in 2022, and insisted that he could force Zelensky and Putin into a diplomatic solution “within 24 hours” of being elected.
Zelensky has also said that he wants the conflict settled quickly, but has ruled out doing so through negotiations. Earlier this week, he presented US President Joe Biden with a so-called ‘victory plan’, which he claims offers a roadmap to defeating Russia militarily.
While the document has not been made public, it consists of four points – the continuation of Kiev’s Kursk incursion, NATO-style security guarantees from the West for Ukraine, the delivery of more advanced weapons, and international financial assistance for the country, according to The Times.
Unlike Trump, Biden and Harris have refused to publicly discuss a diplomatic end to the conflict. Following his own meeting with Zelensky in the White House on Thursday, Biden announced more than $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine, while Harris described the idea of Kiev trading territory for peace as “dangerous and unacceptable.”
Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, has said that Trump would likely freeze the conflict along the current line of contact and offer Russia a guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO, while Kiev’s European backers foot the bill for the country’s reconstruction. Moscow has declared Ukrainian neutrality as one of its main objectives, while insisting that any peace talks take into account the “territorial reality” of Russia controlling former Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye – plus Crimea.
