Zelensky thanked Trump for a “very productive” meeting in which he presented his plan for victory against Russia

former US president Donald Trump this Friday, he promised to quickly end the war in Ukraine if he wins the November election in the United States, after his meeting with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi in New York.

“This is a war that should never have happened, and we’re going to solve it,” the Republican White House nominee said at Trump Tower, without explaining how. “It’s a complex puzzle (…) too many deaths,” he added, estimating that “an agreement can be reached that is good for both sides.”

Before the meeting, Trump praised the “very good relationship” he has with Zelensky, but also with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I hope we will have better relations,” responded the Ukrainian president visibly upset. “We agree that the war in Ukraine must end,” he said, however.

At the end of the meeting Zelenskyy said he was “grateful” for the “very productive meeting”.

“I presented our plan for victory. and we will thoroughly review the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of the war for our people,” Zelenskyy said in a message on the X social network.

Asked by a reporter Thursday whether Ukraine should hand over some of the Ukrainian territory captured by Russia to end the war — which is unacceptable to Kiev — Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”

Zelenskyi has been visiting the United States since Sunday to meet with the former US president after gaining the support of the current democratic government, but of course he worries about the future of aid to his war-torn country if Trump wins on November 5.

The Republican presidential candidate, who has made “America first” one of the pillars of his campaign to return to the White House, regularly denounces the huge sums of money that Washington is paying for Kyiv starting in 2022. That same week, the 70-year-old former president described Zelensky as “the best trader in the world”.

The meeting between them at Trump Tower in Manhattan was theirs first face-to-face meeting since 2019.

For months, Trump has criticized US support for Ukraine and mocked Zelensky. “Every time he comes to our country, he leaves with $60 billion,” he said a few days ago. However, This Friday, Trump recalled his first impeachment of 2019, which Democrats in the US Congress tried to push through after the tycoon asked Zelensky for a “favor”: to investigate current President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Calling for “benefits,” Trump withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine as it fought Russian-backed separatists on its eastern border. “He could brag and be adorable,” Trump recalled. “And he didn’t. He said, “President Trump has done absolutely nothing wrong.” He said it loud and clear.”

Zelensky told reporters in October 2019, as Congress opened an impeachment inquiry, that there was no “blackmail” on Trump’s part. He also told reporters that he does not want to “interfere in the election in any way” and tries to distance himself publicly and privately from US domestic politics.

The meeting between Trump and Zelensky took place a day after the Ukrainian president to meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White Houseafter it passed the US Congress.

“Russia will not win,” Biden assured the Ukrainian president when he received him in the Oval Office.

To “help Ukraine win this war,” the U.S. president announced Thursday an “increase in security assistance” without mentioning the green light that Kiev is waiting to launch long-range missiles made in the United States against Russian territory.

“This war can be won and a just peace can be achieved, but only with the United States,” argued the Ukrainian head of state, presenting his plan for victory, which aims to end the Russian invasion that began on 24/2022.

“My support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering,” Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris assured him at another meeting.

And he criticized those who would “force Ukraine to give up a large part of its sovereign territory, those who would demand that Ukraine accept neutrality,” referring to Trump.

(With information from AFP, AP and Reuters)