Donald Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday as public tensions have been rising between the two over Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion, the AP reports. Trump said Zelensky asked for the meeting. The visit is set for about 9:45am Eastern Time at Trump Tower in New York, less than a day after Vice President Kamala Harris met with the Ukrainian leader and expressed unwavering support. "I look forward to seeing him tomorrow," Trump said in a press conference Thursday. "I believe I will be able to make a deal between President (Vladimir) Putin and President Zelensky, quite quickly."
The meeting is highly anticipated and comes as Election Day nears, with Trump and Harris taking sharply different positions on backing Ukraine in the third year of its war with Russia. Trump argues Putin would never have invaded had he been president, while derisively calling Zelensky a "salesman" for getting US assistance for Ukraine. Trump has in recent days praised Russia's historic military victories and insisted the US needs "to get out" and end its involvement with Ukraine. In an interview with the New Yorker that was published earlier this week, Zelensky implied Trump does not understand and oversimplifies the conflict. The Ukrainian leader said Trump's running mate JD Vance was "too radical" and had essentially advocated for Ukraine to "make a sacrifice" by "giving up its territories."
Trump ripped Zelensky and Ukraine on two separate occasions this week. Speaking Wednesday in North Carolina, Trump referred to Ukraine as "demolished" and its people as "dead." "Any deal—the worst deal—would've been better than what we have now," Trump said. "If they made a bad deal it would've been much better. They would've given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be aging for another 2,000 years." Meanwhile, Harris on Thursday stood alongside Zelenskyy and said Trump's push for Ukraine to quickly cut a deal to end the war were "not proposals for peace," but "proposals for surrender." Trump on Thursday said he was not advocating for a surrender.
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