Trump and Zelensky to meet amid Republican anger over key state visit

• Trump and Zelensky to meet amid Republican anger over key state visit
• Trump and Zelensky will meet on Friday
• The former president claims he could end the war “quickly” but provided no details

Trump and Zelensky to meet amid Republican anger over key state visit

Donald Trump has announced that he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York on Friday. The meeting is scheduled to take place at around 09:45 ET (14:45 BST) at Trump Tower, despite earlier reports suggesting it had been cancelled due to tensions within the Republican Party.

The controversy arose after Zelensky visited Pennsylvania, a key swing state, which angered some senior Republicans. On Thursday, Zelensky had also met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House to discuss his “victory plan,” aimed at pressuring Russia into diplomatic negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

“President Zelensky has requested to meet with me, and I will meet with him tomorrow morning,” Trump told reporters. He also expressed sorrow over the situation in Ukraine, calling it “a horrible thing” with “so many deaths, so much destruction.”

Trump claimed he could broker a deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky “quite quickly,” but declined to provide details when asked what that deal might entail. “I don’t want to tell you what that looks like,” he responded.