VOLODYMYR Zelensky has revealed the inside of yesterday’s frosty talks with Donald Trump that could decide the fate of the war.
It comes after the ex-US President bizarrely boasted about his “very good relationship” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in front of media and the Ukrainian president.
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The pair met yesterday at Trump Tower in New York and discussed how the ongoing war as the November election day nears.
In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Zelensky revealed what Trump asked him during their meeting.
He said: “He asked me a lot (of questions).
(Trump asked) What do you see now is the situation on the battlefield? How do you see support from the United States? Why do you think Putin started the invasion.
Zelensky also said that Trump told him he supported Ukraine and “he will be on our side, that he will support Ukraine”.
But Zelensky did take one shot at Trump and other people saying that peace would be quick or easy.
He said: “I think that we understand better than everybody, including Donald Trump, what is going on in Ukraine and how to stop him (Putin).”
For months Trump has criticised US support for Ukraine and ridiculed Zelensky as a salesman for persuading Washington to provide weapons and funding to his military.
The two haven’t had a meeting since 2019 as Zelensky continues to pressure US politicians for American aid to fight Russia’s invasion.
The presidential hopeful said: “I hope we have a good victory because if the other side wins you’re not going to have any victories to be honest.”
Zelensky spoke of how he and Trump “have a common view” that the Ukraine war “has to be stopped and Putin can’t win”.
Trump said afterwards confidently that he would “end the war” and that both sides would “negotiate a deal that ends the violence.”
Zelensky said he hoped the support of the US would be strong – no matter who wins the election.
He added: “And that’s why I decided to meet with most candidates, with all of them.”
Trump has also claimed he could end the war after being elected but before taking office in January.
But when he made the claim at the debate he could not give any details about how he would do so.
He went on to raise how much it was costing the US to back Ukraine and slammed Joe Biden for not solving it.
Trump said: “Biden had no idea how to talk to him (Putin), he had no idea how to stop it and now you have millions of people dead and it’s only getting worse and it could lead to World War III.”
The meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump came at a critical time in the Russia-Ukraine war as Election Day nears in the US.
Candidates Trump and Kamala Harris having taken vastly different approaches to the war.
Trump has frequently said with confidence that Russia “would have never attacked Ukraine” if he were president.
He has also not been shy in praising mad Russian leader Vladimir Putin, having previously called him a “genius” and “savvy”.
Reports previously said the meeting wouldn’t go ahead after Trump showed offence to Zelensky’s comments that the running Republican “doesn’t really know how to stop the war”.
Zelensky’s victory plan
Zelensky is in the US this week participating in the UN General Assembly in New York.
The Ukrainian leader presented a “victory” plan to Biden and Harris at the White House on Thursday, with Biden announcing a new military aid package worth nearly a whopping $8 billion for Kyiv.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said yesterday that the plan included accelerated Nato membership for Ukraine, something Moscow says it will never tolerate.
Putin says peace talks can begin only if Kyiv abandons swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and drops its Nato membership ambitions.
Zelensky is also expected to ramp up efforts to get a green light on striking Western missiles deep inside Russia under his plan to victory.
But Zelensky was unsuccessful in earlier talks where he tried to secure permission to use Western missiles to strike deep into Russia.
Putin warned that attacks on Russia by western-backed missiles could trigger a devastating nuclear response.
The White House fear the threat of supplying the missiles, with an intelligence assessment describing various responses Russia would take.
These could include acts of arson and sabotage or deadly attacks on Western military bases, The New York Times reports.
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