Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Donald Trump on Friday with public tensions rising between the two over Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion. "We both want to see this end, and we both want to see a fair deal made," Trump told Fox News, referring to the Russia-Ukraine fighting while standing alongside Zelensky after meeting for 40 minutes. "The president wants it to end, and he wants it to end as quickly as possible. He wants a fair transaction to take place." Zelenskyy said that the war shouldn't have started and that there needs to be pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and peace for the families of those killed, the AP reports.
"We need to do everything to pressure him to stop this war. He is in our territory," Zelensky said. "That's most important to understand. He is in our territory." The meeting came at a critical time in the Russia-Ukraine war as Election Day nears in the US. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, have taken sharply different approaches to the issue. Zelensky has been eager to keep good relations with the US, his country's largest provider of arms and money for the war. But the future of that support would be in doubt if Trump were to win the election.
Trump, who has touted his relationship with Putin and called the Russian ruler "pretty smart" for invading Ukraine, has for months criticized US support for Ukraine and derided Zelensky as a "salesman" for persuading Washington to provide weapons and funding to his military. On Friday, Trump brought up his first impeachment, which Democrats pursued after he asked Zelensky for a "favor"—that he investigate Joe Biden and Biden's son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. At the time, Trump was withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine as it fought Russian-backed separatists. "He could have grandstanded and played cute," Trump said. "And he didn't do that. He said, 'President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.' He said it loud and clear."
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Zelensky told reporters in October 2019 that there was "no blackmail" from Trump. He also said, "I don't want to interfere in any way in the elections." But the AP reported afterward that, despite Zelensky's denials, US officials were aware he felt pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Biden. In an interview with the New Yorker that was published this week, Zelensky implied Trump does not understand and oversimplifies the conflict. Also this week, Trump ripped Zelensky and Ukraine on two occasions, referring to the country as "demolished" and its people as "dead." (Harris met with Zelensky on Thursday, denouncing Trump's ideas for ending the fighting.)
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