In an awkward exchange, Trump touts his strong relationship with Zelensky – and Putin

Donald Trump boasted on Friday of “very good relations” with both Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin as he hosted the Ukrainian leader for a meeting at his New York skyscraper.

The former president also repeated his outlandish boast that he could, if re-elected in November, negotiate an end to Russia’s nearly three-year war with Ukraine.

Trump, who was impeached in 2019 for using U.S. defense aid to pressure Zelensky to open sham investigations into President Joe Biden and his son, was briefed on Kiev’s latest plan to defeat Putin.

“We have very good relations,” he told reporters, standing with Zelensky. “As you know, I also have very good relations with President Putin. If we win, I think we will solve the problem very quickly,” he said.

Zelensky quickly interjected: “I hope we will have more good relations between us.”

Zelensky said he and Trump share a “common view that the war … must be stopped, and Putin cannot win, and the Ukrainians must win.”

“I want to discuss the details of our plan with you,” he added.

For his part, Trump said he and Zelensky have a “great relationship,” citing Zelensky’s decision to deny that Trump put any pressure on him during a July 2019 phone call that involved sending Javelin anti-tank missiles to Zelensky. announcement of an investigation into the Bidens.

“So we’ll sit down and just discuss it, and if we win, I think well before January 20, before I took over as president… I think we can work out something that’s good for both sides. It’s time,” he said.

Trump earlier canceled plans to meet with the Ukrainian leader after Zelensky sparked GOP outrage by visiting the Scranton Army munitions plant on the battlefield in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

He changed course late Thursday evening after Zelensky’s meeting with Harris, during which the Democratic presidential candidate told Zelensky that her support for Kyiv’s defense was “unwavering.”

In what appeared to be a veiled attack on Trump and his Republican allies, Harris admitted to Zelensky that there are those in the U.S. “who would instead force Ukraine to give up much of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine accept neutralities and would require Ukraine to renounce security relations with other nations.”

“These proposals are the same as Putin’s, and let’s be clear: these are not peace proposals. Instead, they are offers of surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable,” she said.

Zelensky was in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, where on Wednesday he warned world leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to “break the Ukrainian spirit” by targeting his country’s energy infrastructure. He also warned against accepting alleged peace agreements that would be negotiated without Ukraine’s participation.

“Any parallel or alternative attempts to seek peace are in fact efforts to achieve an end to the war, not to end it,” he said, later adding that he was skeptical about the “real deal” behind China’s recent push and China Brazil advocates ending the conflict.

“When some propose alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of rules, it not only ignores the interests and suffering of Ukrainians… not only ignores reality, but also gives Putin political space to continue the war,” he said.

Earlier this week, Zelensky also visited a factory in Pennsylvania that produces ammunition for his armed forces. The visit sparked the ire of Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who responded by calling on Zelensky to fire Ukraine’s ambassador to the US. Johnson’s outrage allegedly stemmed from the fact that no Republicans were invited to the factory tour, although White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called it a “political stunt” by the GOP at a news conference Thursday afternoon.