Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will go to Washington on Thursday (September 26, 2024) as US help for his nation’s battle in opposition to Russia faces a partisan reckoning on this yr’s presidential election.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has pledged to proceed sending army help to Ukraine if elected, and may have her personal assembly with Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian chief sits down with President Joe Biden.
Nonetheless, Zelenskyy’s tumultuous relationship with former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, continued to deteriorate this week. As a substitute of assembly with Zelenskyy, Trump criticized him.
Concerning US help for Ukraine, Trump complained that “we proceed to provide billions of {dollars} to a person who refuses to make a deal” to finish the struggle.
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It’s the most politically treacherous panorama Zelenskyy has encountered in Washington because the struggle with Russia started almost three years in the past. Ukrainian officers are keen to keep up good relations with whoever turns into the subsequent President of the US, who’s their largest and most necessary provider of weapons, cash and different help.
However the effort dangers falling into the political confusion of the election, polarizing the dialogue round a struggle that was a bipartisan trigger célèbre in Washington.
The most recent spherical of assaults started on Sunday, when The New Yorker printed an interview with Zelenskyy wherein he criticized Trump’s operating mate JD Vance as “too radical” for suggesting that Ukraine wants to surrender some territory to finish the struggle.
Zelenskyy additionally dismissed Trump’s boasts that he might rapidly negotiate an answer, saying, “My feeling is that Trump actually would not know find out how to cease the struggle, even when he thinks he is aware of find out how to cease the struggle.”
On the identical day, Zelenskyy visited a Pennsylvania manufacturing unit that produces munitions for the struggle. He was joined by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, a prime Harris surrogate, and Republicans criticized the go to as a political stunt in a political battleground state.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson demanded that Zelenskyy hearth Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, claiming the tour was “designed to assist Democrats and is clearly election interference.”
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, won’t meet with Zelenskyy on Thursday when he excursions the Capitol earlier than heading to the White Home. Nonetheless, Zelenskyy is anticipated to talk with some members of the Home, together with the Republican chairmen of a number of committees. He’s additionally scheduled to fulfill with senators in a bipartisan session hosted by Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Zelenskyy’s journey to Washington coincides with the annual assembly of the UN Common Meeting in New York, the place the Ukrainian chief spoke on Wednesday. Final week, Trump mentioned he would “in all probability” meet with Zelenskyy whereas he was in the US, however a senior marketing campaign official mentioned a gathering was by no means deliberate.
The official, who requested anonymity to debate non-public conversations, mentioned Trump had instructed Zelenskyy in July that it will in all probability be greatest to not sit down collectively till after the election. An aide to Zelenskyy didn’t reply to questions concerning the doable assembly.
Trump was impeached throughout his first time period for asking Zelenskyy for assist in investigating Biden, then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, at a time when the Ukrainian chief was searching for help from Washington.
There at the moment are fears that Trump would lower or add circumstances to US army help if he returns to the White Home. Trump has additionally spoken admiringly about Russian President Vladimir Putin, and this week he praised Russia’s report of profitable wars.
Charles Kupchan, a member of the Council on International Relations, mentioned Trump isn’t fallacious to need a negotiated finish to the struggle. Nonetheless, he mentioned, Trump dangers undermining Ukraine by permitting Putin to make extra beneficial properties on the battlefield.
“Neither Ukraine nor Russia are going to win this struggle, and the earlier the events attempt to finish this, the higher,” Kupchan mentioned. “When Trump veers off target and when Biden and Harris have a a lot stronger argument, we’ll get there not by throwing Ukraine below the bus however by giving it sufficient help in order that it may well block additional Russian aggression.”
Zelenskyy can anticipate a really totally different tone from Harris, who met him in Munich simply days earlier than the Russian invasion.
Throughout her debate with Trump earlier this month, Harris expressed satisfaction in the US’ help for the “simply protection” of Ukraine. “If Donald Trump have been president, Putin could be sitting in kyiv proper now,” he mentioned.
Printed – September 26, 2024 12:06 pm IST
