Trump's team says no meeting with Zelenskyy planned - AP
Photo: former US President Donald Trump (getty images)
Former US President Donald Trump will not meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week in the US. Trump's team stated that they had never planned such a meeting, according to AP.
Speaking in Savannah, Georgia, Trump mocked President Joe Biden's frequent refrains about the US supporting the Ukrainian armed forces until Kyiv wins the war.
He referenced two historical conflicts to imply that Moscow will not lose — the role of the former Soviet Union in defeating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in World War II in the 1940s, and the failed invasion of Russia by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte over a century ago.
Trump also asserted that the US should exit the war in Ukraine.
Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy
Regarding a potential meeting with Zelenskyy, news of a planned meeting was reported on September 19 by the Ukrainian President's Office. Zelenskyy indicated that he wanted to understand the former president's position on ending the war.
Yesterday, responding to Zelenskyy's arrival in New York, Trump referred to him as the best salesman in history, claiming that after each visit to the US, the Ukrainian president returns with $60 billion.
Zelenskyy on Trump's peace plan
In an interview with the New Yorker, Zelenskyy stated that Trump does not grasp the complexities of the conflict and avoids the question of whether he wants Kyiv to achieve victory in the war.
He does not take seriously the statements of JD Vance (the Republican candidate for vice president) regarding Trump’s peace plan but believes these send dangerous signals.
"His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice. This brings us back to the question of the cost and who shoulders it. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable," emphasized the Ukrainian president.
He added that he does not consider the proposed concept to be a peace plan. "This would be an awful idea, if a person were actually going to carry it out, to make Ukraine shoulder the costs of stopping the war by giving up its territories," Zelenskyy noted.
Trump's proposals essentially amount to freezing the war and effectively capitulating in a political sense. More details on Trump's plan and why it would not satisfy Ukraine are available in RBC-Ukraine's article.
