Kamala Harris hints Trump wants Ukraine to surrender and links him to Putin in extraordinary swipe during Zelensky meeting

Kamala Harris insinuated that Donald Trump would support Vladimir Putin in Ukraine when she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House on Thursday.

“There are those in my country who would force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory. These proposals are the same as Putin’s. And let’s be clear: these are not peace proposals. Instead, they are proposals for surrender,” the Democratic candidate for president said.

She did not mention Donald Trump by name, her intention was clear.

There were reports that Zelensky wanted to have a conversation with Trump while he was in the United States for the UN General Assembly meeting.

His visit came in the shadow of election year politics and many want to spend time with the two contenders vying to become the next occupant of the Oval Office.

Instead of a friendly meeting, Zelensky became the target of the former president’s ire.

Trump called Zelensky “probably the greatest salesman on the planet” during a campaign rally earlier this week in North Carolina.

“The president of Ukraine is in our country and he is making nasty little insults towards your favorite president, me,” he told his adoring crowd of MAGA supporters.

“Any deal — the worst deal — would have been better than what we have now,” Trump said, portraying Ukraine as a lost cause.

“If they had made a bad deal, it would have been much better. They would have given up a little and everyone would still be alive and every building would be built and every tower would age another 2000 years.

‘What deal can we make? It has been demolished,” he added. ‘The people are dead. The country is in ruins.’

Ukraine has lost a fifth of its territory and tens of thousands of lives to the conflict.

Zelensky is in the United States to convince officials of his “victory plan,” which includes strengthening Western security guarantees for Ukraine, increasing military aid and securing further financial support.

He has not released the full details and was not expected to do so during his meetings with President Joe Biden and with Harris.

Harris has pledged to continue sending military aid to Ukraine if she is elected president. However, Trump is more critical of Zelensky and raises questions about what he will do when he returns to the White House.

The vice president, who has met Zelensky seven times, was clear in her support.

“My support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering. I am proud to stand with Ukraine. “I will continue to support Ukraine and ensure that Ukraine gains the upper hand in this war so that it remains safe and prosperous,” she said.

“By standing by our friends and defending our ideals against tyranny, America has become the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world. “Putin’s aggression is not only an attack on the Ukrainian people, it is also an attack on fundamental principles such as sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she added.

Zelensky echoed her, saying he was looking forward to the conversation and thanking the US for its support.

“We believe that this war can be won and that only then can a just peace be achieved,” he said.

Before his meeting with Harris, Zelensky met with Biden in the Oval Office.

“Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail, and we will continue to support you every step of the way,” Biden said, after thanking him for presenting the so-called victory plan.

Zelensky also visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill – where his government said he also presented his victory plan – and delivered a defiant speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian president’s visit to the United States came as Putin raised the stakes, saying his country should be able to use nuclear weapons if it were attacked by a state backed by a nuclear power.

“It is proposed to consider aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin said at a meeting at the Kremlin on Wednesday.

Zelensky has pushed for permission to fire more Western weapons into Russia’s heartland. Western leaders fear that Putin will see this as an attack from the West and expand his war.

He is also struggling to keep the world’s attention as the war in the Middle East expands. Israel has stepped up its attacks on Lebanon as it targets Hezbollah members.

Republicans were also furious. Zelensky toured a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, calling it an election stunt.

But the White House defended the visit and told Republicans to drop the outrage.

“This came from Ukrainian. Not us,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the visit.

Zelensky toured the factory with Gov. Josh Shapiro, a top Harris surrogate. Republican Chairman Mike Johnson has called on Zelensky to fire his ambassador to the US for arranging the trip.

“The Ukrainians have asked to visit the factory where, as you know, American workers are employed to produce crucial supplies that the Ukrainian army uses every day on the front lines of freedom, as it plays a central role in survival of their country,” Jean said. – said Pierre.

She pointed out that Zelensky visited Utah in July and Republicans expressed no outrage.

“President Zelensky traveled to Utah and held an event with the Republican governor, a very similar event, and Republican officials were there at that event in Utah, and there was not a single demand, not one, not a single demand for an investigation.

“This was the normal course of action for a Ukrainian request in wartime, in wartime. And so I would encourage House Republicans to drop this. They should drop this kind of political stuff,” she noted.

In total, the United States has provided approximately $175 billion in both military and economic aid to Ukraine.