Yuri Kobzar14:26, 26.09.24

While Trump and his running mate Vance talk about the need to make concessions to Russia, other Republicans insist that Zelensky has no right to be outraged by such proposals.

Former US President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented public campaign of open criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . The most loyal Republicans are echoing him. CNN reports .

The day before, Trump criticized Zelensky for his refusal to “make a deal” with Russia under any conditions and spoke about the alleged complete destruction of Ukraine that has already occurred because of this.

“These cities are gone, they’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a guy who refused to make a deal, Zelensky. There was no deal he could have made that was better than the situation you have now. You have a country that was destroyed, it can’t be rebuilt,” Trump said somewhat ramblingly at a campaign rally in North Carolina.

In his public rhetoric, Trump has been vocal in his criticism of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their military aid to Ukraine and their failure to stop the war.

“They just don’t know what to do. They’re locked into a situation. It’s sad, they just don’t know what to do. Because Ukraine is gone, it’s not Ukraine anymore. You’re never going to replace these cities and towns, and you’re never going to replace the dead people, so many dead people,” Trump said.He said Ukraine could cede territory to the Russians to prevent a catastrophe. Trump argued that Biden should have brokered such a deal. Trump’s running mate, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, made similar points.

In a recent interview, Zelensky said Vance was “too radical” in offering Ukraine territory in exchange for peace.

“The idea that the world should end this war at the expense of Ukraine is unacceptable. It would be a terrible idea if a person were actually going to implement it, to force Ukraine to bear the costs of ending the war by giving up its territories. … And it also does not necessarily end the war. These are just slogans,” Zelensky said.

These words of his caused a wave of indignation among Republicans. For example, Senator John Cornyn, commenting on these words of Zelensky, told CNN that the Ukrainian president should “stay out of American politics.””I think this is a huge miscalculation by President Zelensky. If he wants Ukraine’s support, he needs to stay out of American politics,” Cornyn said.

At the same time, Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to investigate what U.S. taxpayer resources went to protect Zelensky during his trip to Pennsylvania. House Speaker Mike Johnson even called on Zelensky to fire Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, for organizing the trip.

Finally, despite Zelensky’s announced plans to meet with both US presidential candidates, Trump has so far avoided doing so, which the Democrats are taking advantage of.

“The latest line of [public] attacks from Republicans [on Zelensky] highlights broader political divisions over U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. (…) It’s a stark warning to the Ukrainian president, who has relied heavily on American support to repel Russia’s invasion,” CNN writes.

(C)UNIAN 2024