Volodymyr Zelensky invited U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump to Ukraine during an interview with NBC News on Nov. 5.
Responding to Trump’s claim that he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine in 24 hours, Zelensky said he would prove to the former U.S. president that he couldn’t.
“If he can come here, I will need 24 minutes — yes, 24 minutes. Not more. Yes. Not more — 24 minutes to explain [to] President Trump that he can’t manage this war,” the Ukrainian leader said.
“President Biden was here, and I think he understood some details which you can understand only being here.”
Trump told NBC News on Sept. 15 that he would resolve the conflict in 24 hours if he won next year’s presidential election. However, he refused to provide any details.
“I would get him [Russian dictator Vladimir Putin] into a room. I’d get Zelensky into a room. Then I’d bring them together. And I’d have a deal worked out," the Republican candidate said.
Questions have arisen over what a Republican victory would mean for future U.S. support of Ukraine.
While U.S. President Joe Biden has been an avid supporter of Ukraine, providing $75 billion in financial and military aid since the start of the full-scale invasion, candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have largely opposed the continuation of this scale of funding for Ukraine.
Zelensky said he "doesn't know" if Trump would back Ukraine if he wins the presidential vote.
With Russia's war shifting into a more static but no less brutal positional struggle and the Ukrainian counteroffensive failing to make impressive territorial gains, international support for Ukraine balances on a precarious ledge.
Zelensky recently denied suggestions that the war is at a stalemate, claiming that the military is making new plans to "move forward faster" and strike Russia "unexpectedly.”
The president acknowledged that the cost of the war is high but told NBC, “We are not ready to give our freedom to this f***king terrorist, Putin.”
Nate Ostiller
(Updated: )
