Trump Says He’ll Meet Zelenskiy Friday After Slinging Insults
(Bloomberg) -- Former President Donald Trump said he will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy Friday morning, after stepping up his criticism of the Ukrainian president in recent days.
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“President Zelenskiy has asked to meet with me, and I will be meeting with him tomorrow morning at around 9:45 in Trump Tower,” Trump said at a press conference Thursday in New York. “It’s a shame what’s happening in Ukraine. So many deaths, so much destruction.”
Trump has criticized President Joe Biden’s administration over its military assistance for Kyiv to repel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. He said that, if elected, he will force Zelenskiy to the negotiating table with Putin.
Trump added that “one of the things that are very bothersome to me is the fact that Europe is paying only a small fraction of the money that the United States of America is paying.”
Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump earlier Thursday, saying pressuring Zelenskiy to negotiate with Putin would force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory or forgo security ties with allies.
“Let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender,” Harris said in remarks that didn’t mention Trump by name.
Biden announced $8 billion in new assistance for Kyiv on Thursday and sought to assure his counterpart of continued allied support. The Ukrainian president is in Washington to detail a “victory plan” — a blueprint Zelenskiy says is aimed at winning the war. He’s also met with other world leaders as part of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.
Zelenskiy rankled the Trump campaign after a visit to swing state Pennsylvania, where he toured a defense manufacturing facility in his bid for more security assistance. Trump assailed Zelenskiy on Wednesday saying, “he’s making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president, me.”
--With assistance from Nancy Cook.
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