Donald Trump believes that because of the US support for Kiev, “Ukraine is gone.” The former US president said that a deal could have been made with Russian President Vladimir Putin and no one would have died. Meanwhile, Republicans accuse Kiev of interfering in the elections and demand the dismissal of the country's ambassador to Washington.
– They caused this situation and now they have no way out of it. They simply don't know what to do, because Ukraine It's gone, it's not Ukraine anymore. You can never replace those cities and towns or replace the people who died, so many people who died, Donald Trump said at a rally in Mint Hill, North Carolina.
The former president said Biden could have struck a deal with Vladimir Putin from his aggression, as a result of which “no one would die and there would not be a single golden tower shattered and lying on its side.”
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“A deal could have been made if we had a competent president, not a president who was suffering from everything. And Biden and Kamala allowed it to happen by feeding Zelensky with money and ammunition like no country has ever seen before,” Trump said, once again mockingly calling the Ukrainian president “the best salesman on Earth.” “But now Ukraine is short on soldiers,” he added.
As CNN writes, Trump also pointed out to Zelensky that he “did not want to sign any agreement” with Putin regarding his own nation, “and any agreement would be better than what we have now” – on the front. He also called him “probably the best salesman on Earth”, because according to Trump, each visit of Zelensky to USA gave him “60 billion dollars.”
He did not show calculations to support these amounts.
Donald TrumpERIK S. LESSER/PAP/EPA
Zelensky's meeting with Trump canceled
Trump's words on Wednesday were the harshest he has ever used to describe war in Ukraine and criticism of both the current administration and the Ukrainian president. His statement came on the day Trump was originally scheduled to meet with Zelensky in New York, but the meeting was ultimately canceled.
This is partly the result of Zelensky's statements to the New Yorker. In them, he criticized both Trump and his vice presidential candidate, Senator J.D. Vance, whom he described as “too radical” in connection with his plan to end the war in Ukraine, which involves a ceasefire along the current front lines.
Zelensky also said that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war, even if he may think he does.” His Sunday visit to an artillery ammunition factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was accompanied by Democratic politicians, state Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, also sparked outrage.
Republicans demand the dismissal of Ukraine's ambassador
In connection with this visit to the key election state, House Speaker Mike Johnson called in a letter on Wednesday for Zelensky to fire the country's ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova.
“This facility was located in a politically key state, led by a major political ally of Kamala Harris, and there was not a single Republican present because — intentionally — no Republicans were invited. The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event intended to help Democrats, and it is blatant election interference,” Johnson wrote.
The Republican leader in Congress said that while support for Ukraine remains bipartisan, relations with the U.S. are “needlessly tested and needlessly damaged when top Republican candidates are targeted in media attacks by (Ukrainian) government officials.”
Main image source: ERIK S. LESSER/PAP/EPA