The Ukrainian leader says he wants to hear how the former US president would end the conflict with Russia in 24 hours
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky speak during a meeting in New York in 2019. © AFP / Saul Loeb
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has invited former US president and potential Republican nominee in the 2024 election, Donald Trump, to visit Kiev.
In his interview with UK’s Channel 4 News on Friday, Zelensky was asked to comment on Trump’s claim that if he returned to the White House, he would be able to put an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours.
“I don’t know if his message… will have such [a] positive result,” the Ukrainian leader replied in English.
It could be just a “political message” made by a candidate during the “complicated” election period, “but if it’s some formula – I have to know it,” he stressed.
The reporter then asked the Ukrainian leader if he wanted to invite Trump to arrive in Kiev in person to explain his plan.
“Yes, please, Donald Trump, I invite you to Ukraine, to Kiev. So, if you can stop the war during 24 hours I think it will be enough to come, in any day,” Zelenksy said.
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“Maybe Donald Trump really has some idea, a real idea… he can share it with me, and I think it’s OK,” he added.
If somebody knows how to stop the conflict with Russia, this information shouldn’t be kept secret from the Ukrainian people, the president insisted.
Addressing a crowd of his supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday night, Trump said, “I know [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin very well; I know Zelensky well. I’m gonna get them in; we’re gonna get it solved very quickly.”
On Thursday, in his interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, the former US president reiterated his other claim that “Putin would’ve never attacked Ukraine” if he was still in office.
When asked about ways to end the conflict in Ukraine last week, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., suggested that “the only way” to persuade Zelensky to engage in talks with Russia was to “cut off the money” that’s being provided to Kiev by Washington.
READ MORE: Trump renews vow to quickly end Ukraine crisis
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Zelensky tried to brush off concerns that US aid to Ukraine would halt if Trump were back in power. “One man can’t change the whole nation,” he argued.
