Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky capped off a week in the United States with a visit on Friday, Sept. 27 to former US President Donald Trump at New York’s Trump Tower, his signature black skyscraper overlooking Central Park.
Earlier in the week there was tension between the two in the wake of an interview Zelensky had given to The New Yorker magazine, in which he said that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war” and that his running mate J.D. Vance is “too radical.”
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Then, on his first day in the US, the Ukrainian leader visited an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania, a critical US election battleground, with Democratic politicians to thank US workers for manufacturing artillery shells that are crucial to Kyiv’s war effort against Moscow.
House Republicans subsequently launched investigations into the trip, suggesting it amounted to election interference, and called for Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington to be fired.
But after disappointing meetings with Biden and Harris, in which permission to use US-made long-range precision missiles on Russian territory was denied again, Zelensky reached out to Trump. The Ukrainian president tried to arrange a meeting talked about previously, though it looked as if it had been scrapped due to the partisan tension.
Earlier in the week, at an election rally in North Carolina, Trump accused Zelensky of refusing to “make a deal” to end the conflict. He also called the Ukrainian president “the world’s greatest salesman.”
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On Friday, standing in front of the press at Trump Tower before their meeting, which would last less than an hour, the former US president hailed his alliance with Zelensky:
“He [Zelensky] could have grandstanded and played cute,” Trump said. “But he didn’t do that. He said, ‘President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.’ He said it loud and clear. And the impeachment hoax died right there.”
Trump added that Zelensky “was like a piece of steel” and reiterated that “he [Zelensky] could have played cute and didn’t play cute.”
The former US president emphasized his good rapport with Zelensky, but he added: “I also have a very good relationship – as you know – with President Putin.”
Zelensky interjected that he hoped Trump had a better relationship with himself than with the Russian President.
Putting words in Zelensky’s mouth
Within hours of the meeting and Trump’s remarks, factcheckers scoured testimony from the impeachment trial surrounding Trump’s attempt in 2019 to pressure Zelensky into announcing an investigation into Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
In 2014, then Vice President Joe Biden had been charged by President Barack Obama to be the White House’s point man on Ukraine. In an attempt to curry favor with the Obama administration, Burisma, a gas trading company previously linked to ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, offered a seat on the board of directors to the Vice President’s son Hunter Biden.
In 2019, shortly after Zelensky took office, Trump tried to pressure the Ukrainian president into announcing an investigation into Hunter Biden’s appointment in order to damage the reputation of his likely competitor in the 2020 elections, the elder Biden.
Trump implied that he would withhold a congressionally approved military aid package Ukraine badly needed unless Zelensky made a public announcement of an investigation – at the least. It became known throughout the impeachment proceeds as the “quid pro quo.”
The Washington Post conducted a fact check and concluded: “Trump is putting words in Zelensky’s mouth… He never said Trump did ‘absolutely nothing wrong.’ He certainly did not say it ‘loud and clear.’ Instead, Zelensky at the time denied being blackmailed and suggested he did not see a quid pro quo.”
Nevertheless, Zelensky at the time of Trump’s pressure appeared to be ready to make a statement on CNN that would satisfy Trump’s request, but it got scuttled at the last minute when a leak of the pressure campaign reached Congress.
“A just peace”
Later in a post on X, Zelensky described the meeting as “very productive.”
“I presented him our Victory Plan, and we thoroughly reviewed the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of the war for our people,” Zelensky wrote. “Many details were discussed. I am grateful for this meeting. A just peace is needed.”
The Ukrainian leader had presented his Victory Plan at the White House on Thursday to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump, with Biden announcing a new military aid package worth nearly $8 billion for Kyiv.
Standing with Zelensky at her side, Harris did not mention Trump by name but said there were “some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory.”
Yet after the formal announcement, both leaders left the room quickly, avoiding any inconvenient questions from the press.
Zelensky tried to spin the trip as a success, saying on Friday that his talks in the United States went “exactly as needed.”
“The Victory Plan has been presented to America, and we explained each point in detail. Now, our teams will work to implement every step and decision,” he wrote on social media.
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