Donald Trump has the chance to become the "greatest president in U.S. history" if he follows the "iconic" examples of previous incumbents such as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, a Ukrainian lawmaker has told the Kyiv Independent.
"He wants to be great, and he wants to be remembered in history as a great president. And for him, Ukraine is his chance," Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, said.
Merezhko cited Kennedy's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner", and Reagen's 1987 "tear down this wall" speeches as moments in history when U.S. presidents were immortalized on the world stage.
"And so for Trump, if he comes to Kyiv and says something like 'I’m Ukrainian' or 'We express solidarity with you, we are on your side, you’re fighting for the right cause,' he will go down in history as a person who might eclipse even Kennedy and Reagan," he said.
"I believe that Trump really can become the greatest president in the history of the United States — he could become iconic."
The Trump administration has been spear-heading efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine though concerns have been raised that the White House has been favouring the interests of Moscow over Kyiv.
Trump has applied various forms of pressure on Ukraine including temporarily cutting off military aid, but has yet to take any meaningful steps to force the Kremlin to make any concessions as part of a possible peace deal, even after a series of devastating Russian attacks against Ukrainian civilians.
But in a dramatic change of tone on April 26 after a meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican, the U.S. president said "there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days."
"It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions?" Trump added.
Merezhko said it was clearly an "important meeting" and could potentially pave the way for more positive dialogue between Trump and Zelensky.
"If he uses this chance, he will become great," Merezhko said, adding: "If not, he will be remembered in a negative way."
Zelensky and Trump were among the many leaders who arrived in Vatican City to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after suffering a stroke, at the age of 88.
The White House described the meeting as a "very productive discussion," while Zelensky also called it a "good meeting," noting that they discussed "a lot one-on-one."
Daria Shulzhenko
