Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a “very good phone call” on Friday, according to the former president, after he promised to end Russia’s war with Ukraine if he was re-elected.
President Zelenskyy “congratulated me on a very successful Republican National Convention and becoming the Republican nominee for President of the United States”, he said in a post on the social media app Truth Social.
The pair agreed to “discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting”, according to Mr Zelenskyy in a post on X.
‘The greatest salesman ever’
Financial assistance to Ukraine has come up repeatedly during Mr Trump’s campaign to become US president again.
At his debate against President Joe Biden he criticised the amount of military aid going into Ukraine, and said: “Every time Zelenskyy comes to this country, he walks away with $60bn. The greatest salesman ever.”
However, he has also said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s terms to end the war are “not acceptable” and that Ukrainians are being killed “so needlessly, so stupidly”.
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During his speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, Mr Trump promised to have the war settled “with a phone call” while he’s still president-elect, although he didn’t give any details of how.
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‘I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine’
His running mate, JD Vance, has been very critical of US support of Ukraine in the past.
In the leadup to the Russian invasion in 2022, Vance said on a podcast: “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.
“There is frankly no good reason that aid from the US should be needed,” Mr Vance wrote in the Financial Times earlier this year. “Europe is made up of many great nations with productive economies.”
The US currently spends $175bn supporting Ukraine.
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President Zelenkskyy said: “Ukraine will always be grateful to the United States for its help in strengthening our ability to resist Russian terror” on Friday.
“Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity,” said Mr Trump.
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The call came almost five years to the day after another call between the pair led to Mr Trump’s first impeachment.
He was accused of pressuring Mr Zelenskyy to announce investigations into then presidential candidate Mr Biden and his son while withholding almost $400m in aid.
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He was also accused of obstructing Congress by refusing to release any documents related to his actions.
