US presidential candidate Donald Trump will meet with Vladimir Zelensky on September 27, the Republican told reporters, AFP reports.
“I’ll meet him tomorrow morning around 9:45 at Trump Tower.” – Trump said.
It will be at 16:45 Moscow time. Trump Tower is located in New York.
Trump made the announcement around the same time as a meeting between Zelensky and Trump’s rival, the vice president. Kamala Harrisin the White House.
According to The New York Times, on his social network Truth Social, Trump published a post with a message from Zelensky requesting a meeting, sent through the deputy ambassador of Ukraine.
On September 19, Trump admitted that he would hold a meeting with Zelensky during his visit to the United States, which began on September 22. However, Reuters and the Associated Press later reported, citing sources, that no such meeting had been planned or scheduled.
Time magazine wrote, citing sources, that there were negotiations on this issue and several options were considered. The first was a meeting at Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, which was rejected out of fear that Zelensky’s actions would be seen as supporting Trump during the election campaign. The second is a meeting on neutral territory, for example a joint interview on one of the television channels. But negotiations on this failed after Zelensky visited a weapons factory in the US president’s homeland. joe biden in Scranton, in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where the governor is a Democrat. According to Time’s source, Trump felt “offended” after that.
Other Republicans were also outraged by Zelensky’s trip to the plant. In particular, the president of the House of Representatives Michael Johnson He noted that this constitutes electoral interference to help Democrats, because Republicans were not invited. Johnson called for the dismissal of the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States Oksana Markárováwho organized the trip. After these accusations, the spokesperson refused to meet with Zelensky, claiming that he was busy.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre He clarified that the president’s visit to this company was an initiative of the Ukrainian side.
