Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to the U.S. this week may complicate his relationship with the U.S., particularly if Republicans take power in the November election.
He flew on an Air Force C-17 plane to visit an arms producer in Scranton, Pennsylvania – a swing state – signed bombs with the state’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and called former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, “too radical.”
The Ukrainian president said he didn’t think Trump knew how to bring an end to the war and told the United Nations General Assembly the war with Russia “can’t be calmed by talks” and Russian President Vladimir Putin can “only be forced into peace.” That didn’t sit well with people in Trump’s orbit.
“As someone who has been personally supportive of President Zelenskyy, I was deeply disappointed that he allowed himself to be used that way,” Trump’s former deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates told Fox News Digital. “It was pretty much political theater.”
During a rally on Tuesday, the former president said Zelenskyy wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to win the election “so badly” and described him as “the greatest salesman in history.”
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The stunts have left conservative Ukraine supporters concerned about the warring nation’s ability to come back to the U.S. next year and ask for more resources if Republicans are in power.
“I don’t know what he could do [to repair the relationship],” Coates said. “It was a very strange performance, very counterproductive for him being able to come back in a year and argue for more funding.”
“He is too radical,” Zelenskyy this week told the New Yorker of Vance, who’s an outspoken opponent of aid to Ukraine. “[Vance’s] message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice. This brings us back to the question of the cost and who shoulders it. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable.”
Zelenskyy went on: “My feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war, even if he might think he knows how.”
“It was a very poor move on [Zelenskyy’s] part,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a close Trump ally and key negotiator in moving the last $60 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine over the finish line earlier this year.
His suggestion for Zelenskyy: “Stay out of politics. And maybe come and talk to us about what just happened, because that was a bad move.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a staunch Ukraine supporter, didn’t think it was a bad move at all.
“Zelenskyy was rightly reacting to some of what Sen. Vance has been saying about his position on these issues,” the Connecticut Democrat said.
Vance this month pitched a peace plan that would see Ukraine give up much of the land Russia has captured since 2022 in exchange for a demilitarization zone along the front lines, fortifying Ukraine to deter another invasion and a guarantee that Kyiv would not be brought into NATO.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., a Trump surrogate, said Zelenskyy deserves any blowback he gets.
“Wherever you fall on the spectrum, the idea that a foreign leader is on US soil, being flown around on a C-17 at a campaign stop for Kamala Harris, criticizing President Trump, in any event, is unreal, and so I hope there’s backlash. It’s unacceptable.”
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“He made the decision to make those comments. They’re completely out of bounds, and he ought to be called out for it.”
Schmitt suggested the comments did not completely end any chances of further aid in the future, however.
“I think we should take a clear-eyed view of things like what’s the plan, has Europe stepped up, all of that,” he told Fox News Digital. “But this doesn’t help.”
In his comments to the New Yorker, Zelenskyy suggested that Trump seemed more receptive to his cause than his running mate.
“These are dangerous signals, coming as they do from a potential vice president. I should say that it hasn’t been like this with Trump,” he said.
“He and I talked on the phone, and his message was as positive as it could be, from my point of view. ‘I understand,’ ‘I will lend support,’ and so on.”
“I don’t take Vance’s words seriously,” he added. “Trump makes political statements in his election campaign. He says he wants the war to stop. Well, we do too,” Zelenskyy added.
Ukraine is expected to receive the last $6 billion in aid from the supplemental over the coming months as the war with Russia presses on toward three years in February.
Zelenskyy will meet with President Biden on Thursday and propose a new plan for victory. He’s expected to make another plea for the U.S. to allow him to use long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
Last week Trump said he would “probably” meet with Zelenskyy during his U.S. swing, but no such meeting has been scheduled.
And at United Nations this week, Zelenskyy suggested that a negotiated peace deal was off the table.
“We know some in the world want to talk to Putin,” Zelenskyy said to the General Assembly, “to possibly hear from him that he’s upset because we are exercising our right to defend our people.”
Donning his signature green fatigues, he called such views “insanity.” “Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what’s needed – forcing Russia into peace,” he said.
“Russia is committing an international crime. This war can’t simply fade away, this war can’t be calmed by talks. Actions are needed.”
