NEW YORK — Donald Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday morning, opening a new chapter in a fraught relationship roiled by skepticism from the Republican presidential nominee and his party over U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The meeting will be their first since 2019 and will happen in the final stage of a U.S. presidential race that has put a spotlight on partisan divisions over the war.
Zelensky, who addressed the United Nations General Assembly this week, is in the United States appealing for more support in his country’s fight against Russia. He met separately on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Trump’s opponent in the November election. The meetings were part of an unsuccessful push to persuade the White House to grant permission to fire American-made missiles farther into Russia. Instead, Biden announced the delivery of more military aid and new air defense capabilities.
A Trump victory in November would probably herald a shift in the U.S. posture toward the war in Ukraine. While Harris and Biden have sought to show support for Zelensky, Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have both expressed deep skepticism about aid to Ukraine. The former president has repeatedly said that Russia’s invasion would have never happened if he were still president, and he has previously expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling some of his strategic decisions “savvy” and “genius.”
Trump said in a Thursday news conference that Zelensky had asked to meet with him. “It’s a shame what’s happening in Ukraine — so many deaths, so much destruction,” Trump said. He also claimed he could broker a deal between Zelensky and Putin “quite quickly,” but he declined to provide details of what that deal would entail. The Washington Post previously reported that Trump has privately said he could end the war by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory.
Earlier this week, Trump sharply criticized Zelensky. “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal,” Trump said during a campaign event in Mint Hill, N.C., appearing to fault Zelensky for the war, even though Russia was the aggressor.
Trump also blamed Biden and Harris for the conflict, claiming they “allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and munitions like no country has ever seen before.” He claimed that Zelensky was “making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president.”
During his U.S. visit, Zelensky has outlined a “victory plan” in an effort to further increase support for the war. While Biden on Thursday announced the delivery of more military aid and new air defense capabilities, he has resisted giving Ukraine authority for long-range strikes out of concern they could increase the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and the West.
Zelensky’s trip — which has included visiting a factory in Scranton, Pa., that makes shells for Ukraine’s war effort, alongside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) who has campaigned for Harris — has drawn criticism from Republicans. The tensions have run in both directions; Zelensky called Vance “too radical” in an interview with the New Yorker.
“Every time he came to our country, he’d walk away with $60 billion. He’s probably the greatest salesman on earth,” Trump said in North Carolina.
Trump and Zelensky have had a tense relationship dating back to 2019, when Trump, who was then president, withheld military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure Zelensky to dig up dirt about Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine. That effort led to the impeachment of Trump in the U.S. House on charges that he abused his office and obstructed Congress. (The Senate acquitted Trump.)
A transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky showed that Trump had offered Zelensky support from the Justice Department to investigate Biden. In September 2019, Trump described the call as “perfectly fine and routine.”
More recently, Trump spoke on the phone with Zelensky in July 2024, shortly after the attempted assassination of the former U.S. president in Butler, Pa. “We agreed with President Trump to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
Trump, meanwhile, said he would “end the war” and predicted that Russia and Ukraine “will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence.”