House Speaker Mike Johnson is also unsure whether he will meet the Ukrainian leader
Reports indicate that no meeting has been scheduled between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and former US President Donald Trump. US House Speaker Mike Johnson has also expressed uncertainty about meeting Zelensky.
Zelensky is currently in the US attending the UN General Assembly in New York, where he plans to present his “victory plan” to key figures in the country’s political establishment.
This proposed roadmap for defeating Moscow will first be presented to President Joe Biden, but Zelensky also intends to speak with both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates as well as senior officials.
However, as of Tuesday, no meeting between Zelensky and Trump has been scheduled, according to the Associated Press. This information was reported by an official in the Republican nominee’s campaign, who spoke to the news agency on the condition of anonymity.
Johnson, who has also been invited to meet with Zelensky, indicated that he won’t be available to speak with the Ukrainian leader in comments made to the press on Wednesday.
“I don’t think we actually are going to be in town on Thursday. We have our schedule changed on the floor, so it’s very fluid,” the Republican legislator said, according to a clip shared by Voice of America correspondent Kateryna Lisunova. “I’m not sure yet.”
Zelensky is facing criticism from Republican politicians regarding his comments criticizing both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
He has also been criticized for his visit to the hotly contested state of Pennsylvania at the invitation of its Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, who took the Ukrainian leader to a weapons factory.
Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt has accused Zelensky of “openly campaigning for Democrats,” while nine Republican members of Congress have requested that the Pentagon inspector general determine if the trip to Pennsylvania constituted a violation of US law.
There is growing skepticism about Ukraine’s strategy in the ongoing conflict with Russia, according to media reports. Some of its Western backers have dismissed Kiev’s ‘victory plan’ as a “wish list” and are calling for renewed diplomatic engagement with Moscow, sources have told Bloomberg.
Trump has claimed on the campaign trail that he would put an end to the conflict in 24 hours, if elected. Zelensky, however, has stated that the former president “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.” He has also said that Vance was “too radical”; the VP candidate has dismissed the Ukraine conflict as largely irrelevant to American interests.