Former President Donald Trump on Monday claimed Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants Vice President Kamala Harris to win in November “so badly” during a rally in Pennsylvania, a key battleground in the race for the White House.
The Republican presidential nominee once again claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin would have never invaded his neighbouring country if Trump was still in office, adding that the two countries could have come to an agreement a long time ago to avoid the suffering experienced on the Ukrainian side.
“They could have made a deal three years ago and everything would be happy, vibrant, their heritage wouldn’t have been broken,” Trump said of Ukraine.
Trump claimed Zelenskyy, who is in the US for the United National General Assembly, is “the greatest salesman in history.”
“Every time he comes into the country, he walks away with 60 billion dollars,” Trump added, in an apparent reference to the foreign aid package Congress passed earlier his year, which included $61 billion for Ukraine.
Trump claimed Zelenskyy was rooting for Harris to win in November, and he went on to lay out his vision for Kyiv if he returned to the White House.
“He wants them to win this election so badly,” Trump said. “But I would do differently. I will work out peace.”
“If I win this election, the first thing I’m going to do is call up Zelenskyy and call up President Putin and I’m going to say ‘You gotta make a deal, this is crazy,’” he continued.
Zelenskyy visited an ammunition plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Sunday to thank the workers producing munitions that are key to his country’s fight against Russia. He was joined by Governor Josh Shapiro (Democrat), a key ally of Harris. The visit reportedly vexed some of Trump’s aides, according to Reuters, because it took place in a swing state less than two months out of the election.
The Ukrainian leader, who has a scheduled meeting with Harris on Thursday, has been trying to shore up support for his country’s fight against Russia in the US Trump previously said he would “probably” meet Zelenskyy this week.
During the ABC News presidential debate earlier this month, Trump did not directly answer if it was in the interest of the country for Ukraine to win the war, prompting renewed concern about what his potential win could mean for the country.
“I think it’s in the US best interest to get this war finished and just get it done,” he said.
In an interview with The New Yorker published Sunday, the Ukrainian leader explained that ending the nearly three-year conflict is far more complicated than Trump realises.
“My feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how,” he said. “With this war, oftentimes, the deeper you look at it the less you understand. I’ve seen many leaders who were convinced they knew how to end it tomorrow, and as they waded deeper into it, they realised it’s not that simple.”
Meanwhile, he also took a jab at Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance (Republican, Ohio), calling him “too radical” over his push for a deal that would involve Russians holding on to the territory they seized from Ukraine, among other things.
“Whichever President or Vice-President raises this prospect — that ending the war hinges on cementing the status quo, with Ukraine simply giving up its land — should be held responsible for potentially starting a global war,” he said. “Because such a person would be implying that this kind of behaviour is acceptable.”