Trump says Zelensky wants Democrats to win US elections

PENNSYLVANIA - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Sept 23 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants the Democrats to win the election in November, in which the former US president faces Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Trump’s statement on the campaign trail contrasts with the line adopted by some of his allies, who said Ukraine would welcome him back as only he – in their telling – has the acumen to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end

Moscow’s war on Ukraine

.

“I think Zelensky is the greatest salesman in history. Every time he comes into the country, he walks away with US$60 billion,” Trump said at a rally in western Pennsylvania.

“He wants them to win this election so badly but I would do differently – I will work out peace.”

Ms Harris’ campaign, in an e-mailed statement, called out Trump for not having said he wants Ukraine to win the war.

“Vice-President Harris understands that if America walks away from Ukraine, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe and our Nato allies,” said Ms Morgan Finkelstein, the national security spokeswoman for Ms Harris’ campaign.

Mr Zelensky’s presidential office in Kyiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump gave no details of his peace plan, beyond reiterating he would call Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky and urge them to work out an accord, should he win the Nov 5 election.

Mr Zelensky, who is in the United States to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, said on Sept 23 that decisive action by the US could hasten the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2025.

While Trump said last week that he would “probably” meet Mr Zelensky while he was in the US, no meeting has been set, according to people close to him.

Over the weekend, Mr Zelensky visited a weapons factory in Pennsylvania with Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, a Harris ally, a move that angered some Trump associates as the visit occurred at an electoral battleground.

Americans of Eastern European descent – including Ukrainian Americans and Polish Americans – have become a sought-after voting bloc for both campaigns, particularly in Pennsylvania, which has significant Polish and Ukrainian populations.

Washington and its allies have provided a multibillion-dollar assistance programme to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, while also imposing several rounds of sanctions against Moscow.

Trump has consistently described US aid to Ukraine as a waste of money and has declined to say he wants Ukraine to win.

He and Mr Zelensky talked over the phone in July, but they have not talked in person since Trump’s presidential term from 2017 to 2021.

Mr Zelensky has previously said he cannot predict what Trump would do if he won in November, but hoped the Republican would maintain US military support for Ukraine.

In an interview in July with the BBC, Mr Zelensky said working with Trump would be “hard work, but we are hard workers”.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions more and devastated Ukrainian towns and cities.

Mr Putin says peace talks can begin only if Kyiv abandons swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and drops its Nato membership ambitions.

Mr Zelensky has repeatedly called for a withdrawal of all Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine's post-Soviet borders. REUTERS