Former President Donald Trump applauded Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, praising the Ukrainian president for their “very good relationship” — just days after the Republican nominee accused Zelensky during a campaign rally of making “nasty little aspersions.”
“We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin. And I think if we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” Trump told reporters in Trump Tower of Russia’s 31-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
Zelensky then cut in to say: “I hope we have more good relations between us.”
Trump, 78, also thanked Zelensky, 46, for his support during the 45th president’s first impeachment trial, when the Kyiv leader denied Trump was pressuring Ukraine to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden in exchange for aid during a 2019 phone call.
“He said President Trump did nothing wrong,” Trump recalled, and “the impeachment hoax died right there.”
“He was like a piece of steel.”
“I remember that he could have played cute, and he didn’t play cute. So I appreciate that,” Trump went on.
Trump and Zelensky met one day after the Ukrainian leader sat down with both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington.
Zelensky had angered Republicans after going to Pennsylvania over the weekend with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, with the House Oversight Committee announcing it would investigate whether the trip constituted unlawful election interference.
Amid the tensions, Trump said Wednesday at a campaign stop in North Carolina that Zelensky was making “nasty little aspersions” toward him.
The former president also blamed Biden and Harris for continuing to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia, and accused Zelensky of refusing to negotiate with Putin.
“And we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal — Zelensky,” Trump said at the time.
On Friday, Trump reiterated that he wants to bring the conflict to an end.
“We’re going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled,” he said, claiming he could negotiate a peace deal even before he gets inaugurated Jan. 20.
Following the meeting, Zelensky expressed openness to the idea of the US leading negotiations, but stressed that Putin has to be pushed out of Ukraine.
“We need to do everything to pressure him to stop this war and he is on our territory,” he said. “That is the most important [thing] to understand.”
“US is the leader. US is the leader of support. US is the leader in the world. And of course we really value the support of the United States,” he added.
“And of course we understand that the United States can be the leader through any negotiation.”
Zelensky also invited Trump to come to Ukraine, to which the former president responded: “I will.”
Trump said he “learned a lot” from his meeting with Zelensky, but reiterated the war should never have “happened” and promised to “get it solved.”
“We want to have a fair deal for everyone,” Trump said, but repeated that it was too early to say what such a deal might look like.
