By Marianne LeVine, Michael Birnbaum, Isabelle Khurshudyan, The Washington Post (c) 2024
NEW YORK – Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday morning, opening a new chapter in a fraught relationship roiled by skepticism from the Republican presidential nominee and his party over U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war.
While Trump said it was an “honor” to meet with Zelensky, Friday’s gathering also illustrated both leaders’ cautious approach to one another, amid their differing views of the United States’ role in the conflict. Before the meeting with Zelensky began, Trump said he had a “very good relationship” with the Ukrainian president and that he also has a “very good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky interjected: “I hope we have more good relations.”
The meeting was their first since 2019 and comes in the final stage of a U.S. presidential race that has put a spotlight on partisan divisions over the war. After the meeting ended, Trump predicted a “very fair and rather rapid deal” to end the war if he wins in November, but did not offer specific details.
“It should stop and the president wants it to stop and I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop,” Trump said. Zelensky, however, noted that Putin needs to be pressured and emphasized “he’s in our territory.”
A Trump victory in November would probably herald a shift in U.S. posture toward the war in Ukraine. While Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden have sought to show support for Zelensky, Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have both expressed deep skepticism about aid to Ukraine. The former president has repeatedly said that Russia’s invasion would have never happened if he were still president, and he has repeatedly expressed admiration for Putin, calling some of his strategic decisions “savvy” and “genius.”
Zelensky, who addressed the United Nations General Assembly this week, is in the United States appealing for more support in his country’s fight against Russia. He met separately Thursday with Biden and Harris, who is Trump’s opponent in the November election. The meetings were part of an unsuccessful push to persuade the White House to grant permission to fire American-made missiles farther into Russia. Instead, Biden announced the delivery of more military aid and new air defense capabilities.
Friday’s meeting lasted about 40 minutes, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private session. Trump was accompanied by his co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, as well as Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence.
Grenell’s presence at the meeting was a clue that he may play a significant role in a future Trump administration. On the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in July, Grenell, who has been seen as a possible future secretary of state, expressed skepticism about expanding the NATO defense alliance before all current members are meeting their defense spending guidelines. And he suggested that as part of an effort to end the war, Ukraine might retain its current borders, but with “autonomous zones” inside the country.
Trump said in a Thursday news conference that Zelensky had asked to meet with him. “It’s a shame what’s happening in Ukraine – so many deaths, so much destruction,” Trump said. He also claimed he could broker a deal between Zelensky and Putin “quite quickly,” but he declined to provide details of what that deal would entail. The Washington Post previously reported that Trump has privately said he could end the war by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory.
Earlier this week, Trump sharply criticized Zelensky. “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal,” Trump said during a campaign event in Mint Hill, N.C., appearing to fault Zelensky for the war, even though Russia was the aggressor.
Trump also blamed Biden and Harris for the conflict, claiming they “allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and munitions like no country has ever seen before.” He claimed that Zelensky was “making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president.”
During his U.S. visit, Zelensky has outlined a “victory plan” in an effort to further increase support for the war. But Zelensky’s trip has not yielded all that he had hoped it would, with the White House giving no ground on long-range weaponry, announcing a new package of military aid that committed the last of the supplemental money but offered only modest new military capabilities.
Biden has resisted giving Ukraine authority for long-range strikes out of concern that they could increase the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and the West. A senior Ukrainian official said the U.S. trip would have been viewed as a failure if Zelensky had not obtained the meeting with Trump, after already failing to secure long-range strike permission.
Zelensky’s trip alsoincluded visiting a factory in Scranton, Pa., that makes shells for Ukraine’s war effort. The visit – alongside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who has campaigned for Harris – drew criticism from angry Republicans who were quick to condemn the appearance.
Ukrainian officials privately expressed surprise at the Republican reaction to the trip to Scranton, noting that Zelensky visited Utah and met the Republican governor there, Spencer Cox, in July. But other European diplomats and officials said they would have been more careful about wading into a battleground state so close to the election.
The tensions have run in both directions; Zelensky called Vance “too radical” in an interview with the New Yorker.
“Every time he came to our country, he’d walk away with $60 billion. He’s probably the greatest salesman on earth,” Trump said in North Carolina.
Earlier this year, Congress approved $61 billion in aid to Ukraine as part of a broader package. Some Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have advocated for aid to Ukraine, despite a growing number of GOP lawmakers who are more aligned with Vance and Trump.
Trump and Zelensky have had a tense relationship dating back to 2019, when Trump, who was then president, withheld military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure Zelensky to dig up dirt about the business dealings in Ukraine of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. That effort led to the impeachment of Trump in the U.S. House on charges that he abused his office and obstructed Congress. (The Senate acquitted Trump.)
A transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky showed that Trump had offered Zelensky support from the Justice Department to investigate Biden. In September 2019, Trump described the call as “perfectly fine and routine.”
After the request leaked, the hold was lifted following public outcry. But Zelensky – always mindful that Trump remained the ultimate decision-maker about the aid – never complained publicly about the position he had been put in.
On Friday, Trump praised Zelensky’s handling of the 2019 phone call.
“He could have grandstanded and played cute, but he didn’t do that,” he said. “He was like a piece of steel, he said President Trump did nothing wrong.”
More recently, Trump spoke on the phone with Zelensky in July 2024, shortly after the attempted assassination of the former U.S. president in Butler, Pa. “We agreed with President Trump to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
Trump, meanwhile, said he would “end the war” and predicted that Russia and Ukraine “will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence.”
As Trump has repeatedly stated throughout his campaign that, if elected, he could quickly strike a deal with Putin to end the war, Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have expressed skepticism. Zelensky has extended invitations to Trump to visit Ukraine and has said he would like for Trump to share his thoughts on how to end the war.
Privately, Ukrainian officials are torn. Though some are concerned that Trump would advocate for Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Russia in negotiations – something Zelensky’s administration been adamantly against.
Zelensky met with Trump’s former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, earlier this month, and Pompeo told Zelensky that he would pitch Trump on meeting Zelensky during this visit to the U.S., according to the senior Ukrainian official. Pompeo has previously advocated for expanding military aid to Ukraine, but it’s unclear if he would have a role in a Trump administration.