Despite repeated criticism from the US campaign, Donald Trump has agreed to a last-minute meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Republican presidential candidate said at a news conference that the Ukrainian leader would visit Trump Tower on Friday, days after criticizing Trump for refusing to “make a deal” with Moscow.
The former US president appears to have changed his mind after earlier reports from his campaign said a meeting between the two was highly unlikely.
The couple has endured a tumultuous relationship. In 2019, Trump was fired for allegedly pressuring Zelensky to dig up damaging information on the Biden family.
A rough transcript of the call shows Trump urging Zelensky to investigate Biden and Biden’s son.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Trump has often repeated Moscow’s talking points about war. During a September presidential debate, he sidestepped a question about whether Ukraine wanted to win the conflict.
Announcing the meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Trump repeated his long-held claim that he could “make a deal” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky “very quickly.”
But the former president refused to delve into the specifics of his plan. He declined to elaborate when asked if he believed Ukraine should cede territory to Russia as a means of ending the war.
“What’s happening in Ukraine is shameful. So many deaths, so much destruction. It’s a terrible thing,” Trump told reporters in New York on Thursday.
Friday’s meeting comes amid heightened tensions between Zelensky and the Republican Party ahead of November’s US presidential election.
Some Republicans were angered when Zelensky visited an arms factory in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, earlier this week with top Democrats, including state Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Zelensky’s trip to the key swing state was branded a partisan campaign event by leading Republicans. US House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a public letter that the visit was “designed to help Democrats” and constituted “election interference”.
Trump has continued to criticize US funding for Ukraine and in recent days has sharpened his attacks against Zelensky, calling him the “greatest salesman on Earth”.
In contrast, Zelensky recently told the New Yorker that he believes “Trump doesn’t know how to stop a war.”
Asked about Zelensky’s comments on Thursday, Trump responded: “I believe I disagree with him. He doesn’t know me.”
Thursday, Zelensky met with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris He hopes to pressure Russia into agreeing to a diplomatic end to the war to discuss his “victory plan” at the White House.
Hours earlier, Biden announced a further $7.9bn (£5.9bn) in military aid to Ukraine.
While Zelensky visited the United States, drone strikes continued in Ukraine. On Thursday night, three people were killed and 14 injured in a Russian drone attack on the Danube river port city of Ismail.
Russia has targeted Ismail’s grain export facilities in the past, although prosecutors say those injured in the latest attack included two boys, aged three and 13, and a girl, aged 14.
Romania’s Defense Ministry said one of the Russian drones involved in the attack may have crossed the border into NATO member Romania within a short period of time.
