Donald Trump has said he will meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in New York, after days of questions over whether the two leaders will sit down together.
The Republican candidate told reporters he would meet the Ukrainian President at Trump Tower on Friday, shortly after he posted on social media a purported message from Zelensky asking to see him.
The message, which was not confirmed by Ukrainian officials, said “we have to strive to understand each other.”
Tension has been brewing between the two leaders over the former president’s stance on Ukraine, with Zelensky recently taking aim at comments made by Trump’s running mate JD Vance over the conflict.
Earlier this week Zelensky was quoted as saying Vance was “too radical” for suggesting that Ukraine needs to give up some territory to end the war, and also criticised Trump, saying “my feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”
Asked by reporters on Thursday if Ukraine should give up territory, Trump said “we’ll see what happens” and “we need peace.”
His comments came after Kamala Harris said calls for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia were “dangerous and unacceptable” as she met with Zelensky.
“They are not proposals for peace,” Ms Harris said. “Instead they are proposals for surrender.”
Trump rejected Harris’ thinly-veiled criticisms and insisted that he only wants to stop the “horror show that’s gone on.”
Harris has outlined a broader foreign policy vision rooted in “international order, rules and norms” and rejected calls for the US to walk away from its global role.
“The United States supports Ukraine not out of charity, but because it’s in our strategic interest,” the Democratic candidate said.
Zelenskyy was in Washington to present the White House and Congress with his plans for reaching an endgame in the war by improving Ukraine’s chances on the battlefield and its eventual leverage at the negotiating table.
He is pushing to lift restrictions on using long-range Western weapons to strike targets deeper in Russian territory.
So far US President Joe Biden has announced billions of dollars more in missiles, drones, ammunition and other supplies.
Trump complained this week that Zelenskyy is “making little nasty aspersions toward your favourite president, me.”
He also described the Ukrainian leader as “the greatest salesman on Earth” for securing US support, and said “we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal” to end the war.
With agencies
