NEW YORK: Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump said on Friday he would work with both Ukraine and Russia to end their war, as he stood next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before their meeting in New York.

Speaking to reporters at Trump Tower, President Zelensky said he wanted to discuss his “victory plan” for Ukraine with Trump during their first meeting in five years. He said he was meeting both Republican and Democratic candidates for presidential race on Nov 5, because Ukraine needed strong US support in its continuing war with Russia.

Trump assured Zelensky that since he also had a solid relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he could get the Ukraine conflict resolved very quickly. “We have a very good relationship (with Zele­nsky), and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin,” Trump said. “And I think if we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” he added.

Zelensky and Trump stood alongside one another, with the Ukrainian president occasionally looking up at Trump during the latter’s remarks to journalists.

Starmer meets Trump, skips sitting with Kamala due to ‘diary challenges’

The Ukrainian president has used his New York visit to promote his “victory plan”, which a US official described as a “repackaged request for more weapons” and lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range missiles. The plan presupposes the ultimate defeat of Russia in the war, the official said. Some officials see the aim as unrealistic.

Asked by a reporter if Ukraine should hand over some land to Russia to end the war, a non-starter for Kyiv, Trump replied: “We’ll see what happens.”

Earlier on Monday, Trump said Zelensky wanted Kamala Harris to win the election and also called Zelensky “the greatest salesman of all time” after his country received billions of dollars in military aid from the West.

On Friday, Trump said, “It’s an honour to have the president with us, and he’s been through a lot… we’re going to have a discussion and see what we could come up with.” He said if he won the election he would immediately begin working towards a resolution of the Ukraine conflict, even though he would formally take office only in late January 2025.

Zelensky also met Democratic President Joe Biden and Harris the previous day.

Trump-Starmer meeting

Earlier, Keir Starmer met Donald Trump in New York for a two-hour dinner, the first meeting for the new British Prime Minister and the former US President, media reports said on Friday.

Trump hosted the Labour Party leader, who won a landslide election victory in the UK’s July general election, ousting the Conservatives after 14 years in power, at Trump Tower, BBC, The Guardian and The Daily Mail reported.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Trump told reporters: “I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race. He did very well. It’s very early. He’s very popular.”

Starmer said it was important for him to meet both candidates in the US election but that “diary challenges” meant it had not been possible to schedule a meeting with Kamala Harris.

“We’ve now got the opportunity to meet Trump, which is good,” he said.

Trump and Starmer were also joined by UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who in 2018 called Trump “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”.

However, Lammy was more diplomatic earlier this year, saying in a speech that Trump’s “attitude to European security is often misunderstood”.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2024