Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Monday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wanted Democrats to win the 2024 US election in which the former US president will face Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump also said that if he wins the election, he will call Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy and urge them to reach a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“I think Zelenskiy is the greatest salesman in history. Every time he comes to the country, he leaves with $60 billion,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania. “He desperately wants them to win this election, but I would do something different: I would work for peace.”
Harris' campaign had no immediate reaction to Trump's remarks, and the Republican candidate did not elaborate on his peace plan. Polls show a close race between Trump and Harris.
Zelenskiy arrived in the United States on Sunday to attend sessions of the UN General Assembly and urged his partners to help achieve “a shared victory for a truly just peace.”
Washington and its allies have provided a multi-billion dollar assistance program to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, while imposing several rounds of sanctions against Moscow.
Trump has consistently called U.S. aid to Ukraine a waste of money and has refused to say he wants Ukraine to win. Although Trump and Zelenskiy spoke by phone in July, they have not spoken in person since Trump's term in office (2017-2021).
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions more and devastated Ukrainian cities and towns.
Putin says peace talks can only begin if kyiv gives Russia parts of eastern and southern Ukraine and abandons its NATO membership ambitions. Zelenskiy has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of all Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine's post-Soviet borders.
Ukraine and the West claim that Russia is waging an imperial-style war. Putin described the invasion of Ukraine as a defensive measure against a hostile and aggressive West.
