Volodymyr Zelensky ready to meet Trump, denounces delays in arms deliveries to Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to meet with Donald Trump if the presumptive Republican nominee wins the election. However, he said that if the presidential candidate has a plan to end the war in Ukraine, he should “tell us today.”

The former president, who is currently leading in polls for the 2024 election, claimed during last week's debate that if he won in November, he could end the desperate war in Eastern Europe before he was even inaugurated about two months later.

But Zelensky said that if Trump knows how to end the conflict — which began when Russia invaded its neighbor without provocation in February 2022 — he should tell Ukrainian officials now, according to Bloomberg.

“If Trump knows how to end this war, he should tell us today,” Zelensky said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in kyiv on Wednesday. “If there are risks to Ukraine’s independence, if we lose our independence, we want to be ready, we want to know.”

“They cannot plan my life and the lives of our people and our children,” he added in the hour-long interview, in which he also lamented delays in deliveries of Western weapons systems.

“We want to know whether in November we will have the powerful support of the United States or whether we will be alone.”

On Wednesday, a Trump spokesperson told the Post that Trump had “repeatedly stated that a top priority of his second term would be to quickly negotiate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.”

“He will do what is necessary to restore peace and rebuild American strength and deterrence on the world stage, and he is the only person who can do that,” spokesman Steven Cheung said.

Russian officials, however, have dismissed Trump's comments.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said Monday that “the Ukrainian crisis cannot be resolved in one day,” according to Business Insider.

Last week, two former Trump administration advisers proposed a plan to force peace talks by threatening Moscow that Washington would give Ukraine even more aid if Russia did not come to the negotiating table.

At the same time, it would suspend aid to Ukraine if it refused to meet with Russian officials.

A senior Ukrainian official told the Post that the government hopes a potential Trump administration will respect both its territory and its sovereignty.

During the first presidential debate on Thursday, Trump complained that the United States is spending billions on Ukraine's defense, but kyiv is “not winning the war.”

Zekensky, meanwhile, denied that the conflict was at a stalemate and insisted that kyiv's armies had replenished lost troops and were simply waiting for more weapons before launching a counteroffensive, according to Bloomberg.

“This is not an impasse, but a problematic situation,” he said. “An impasse means there is no way out. But a problem can be solved if you have the will and the tools. We have the will and the tools, but they have not arrived yet.”

The Ukrainian president also welcomed the $61 billion aid package passed by Congress earlier this year, but said it was taking too long to get equipment to the front lines, the outlet reported.

“This is the biggest tragedy of this war: between the decision and the real facts there was a very, very, very long wait,” Zelenskiy said.

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon would send Ukraine a $2.3 billion military aid package that will include “more air defense interceptors, anti-tank weapons and other critical munitions from the U.S. stockpile,” Austin said.

Part of the money will also be used to fund additional Patriot surface-to-air missile systems and advanced domestic surface-to-air missile systems, which are essential for defending Ukrainian airspace against Russian attacks, he said.

The Ukrainian president also rejected overtures from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to consider a ceasefire.

“Nobody has an answer,” Zelenskiy said, adding that those who say he should accept an armistice have not said how it would work.

“I'm not accusing anyone,” he said. “I'm just explaining.”

Additional reporting by Caitlin Doornbos.