US presidential candidate Donald Trump said he favors a “just” peace for Ukraine but refrained from being specific about what kind of agreement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine he would consider fair.
He said this in a conversation with the media after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York at Trump Tower, CNN reported.
Asked what he would consider a “fair” agreement to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, Trump replied, “It’s too early to talk about that.” “I have my ideas, and the president (Zelenskyy—Ed.) definitely has his own ideas. But it (peace—Ed.) must be fair,” Donald Trump said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was standing next to him, interjected his remark that this war should never have started in the first place.
“Putin has killed so many people. And of course, we must do everything to put pressure on him to end the war. He is on our territory—this is the most important thing to understand—he is on our territory,” the Ukrainian president emphasized.
Before the talks, Trump praised Zelenskyy’s handling of the attempted impeachment by Democrats in Congress and said they had a “great relationship.” However, he immediately said the same about his relationship with Russia’s ruler and reiterated his confidence that he could quickly stop the war.
Trump explained how he would achieve a war settlement. He said he has a “very good relationship” with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a “very good relationship” with President Putin, and he expressed hope that “we will get some kind of resolution quickly.”
In response to Trump’s remark about relations with Putin, Zelenskyy said, “I hope we have a better relationship,” to which Trump replied, “It takes two to tango.”
Zelenskyy and Trump met at Trump Tower in New York a day after a sharp escalation in which Trumpists accused the Ukrainian president of “interfering in the election” and aiding Biden by criticizing Trump’s “peace plan.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to meet with Zelenskyy. Trump agreed to meet Zelenskyy at the last minute, turning it down initially.
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson released a letter to President Zelenskyy with ultimatum demands for Ukraine.
Johnson posted a photocopy of the letter to the speaker’s official website and X account.
The document, dated September 25, is written in an ultimatum tone, which is unusual for intergovernmental correspondence.
“Dear President Zelenskyy, I demand that you immediately dismiss Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova,” the document begins.
Johnson cited an incident during the Ukrainian president’s visit to the United States—a visit to a Pennsylvania shell factory—as the motive for his ultimatum.
“Ambassador Markarova organized an event in which you visited a U.S. production facility in a key state, headed by a leading Kamala Harris associate. The event was devoid of any Republican presence due to the deliberate exclusion of all Republicans from invitations. This trip was obviously a partisan event designed to help Democrats, and it was definitely an interference (by the Ukrainian side) in the election process,” Mike Johnson said in his letter.
The speaker emphasized that now “Republicans have lost confidence in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to perform diplomatic functions in the United States honestly and effectively” and reiterated the demand to Zelenskyy that the Ukrainian ambassador “should be immediately dismissed from her post.”
Republicans in the US Congress have initiated an investigation into any coordination between Joe Biden’s administration and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his interview with critical remarks about presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The committee launched the investigation to determine whether the Biden-Harris administration tried to use Zelenskyy to help Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign, and if so, whether there was an abuse of office.
