Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky extended an invitation to Donald Trump to come visit, while stressing his war-torn nation needs at least one more year of heavy US support.
Trump has long crowed that he could end the war in 24 hours if he becomes president, but Zelensky gently suggested he would disabuse the former president of that notion.
“I invite President Trump if he can come here. I will need 24 minutes…to explain [to] President Trump that he can’t manage this war, that he can’t bring peace because of Putin,” Zelensky told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.“If he’s not ready to give our territory for this terrible man,” Zelensky went on, “if you’re not ready to give our independence…he’s very welcome.”
Zelensky noted that he hasn’t had any contact with Trump since the latter departed the White House and conceded he doesn’t know if the former president would have Ukraine’s back.
Certainly, it’s hard to imagine Trump would choose to funnel more resources into this conflict—like I said above, that move would be at odds with the interests of his base. However, I can envision Trump stepping in to broker a peaceful resolution. He’s maintained consistently that had he been at the helm during this crisis, he would have swiftly negotiated a resolution, and most believe him. That scenario seems like the only plausible reason Trump might consider such an invitation, given the ample criticism over the “money laundering” that’s allegedly been going on in Ukraine.
