Former President Donald Trump said he’ll meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower on Friday morning, following doubt over whether the two would meet while Zelenskyy is visiting the U.S.
Trump has been highly critical of funding to Ukraine and at times, Zelenskyy — an uneasy relationship that was made even less comfortable after the Ukrainian president announced a visit to an ammunition plant in battleground state Pennsylvania. House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Zelenskyy to fire his ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, over the Pennsylvania trip and its lack of Republicans present.
Zelenskyy has in turn been critical of Trump, saying the former U.S. president “doesn’t really know how to stop the war.” Trump frequently says Russia “would have never attacked Ukraine” if he was president.
Speaking to reporters in New York City on Thursday, Trump announced he’ll met with Zelenskyy at Trump Tower at 9:45 a.m. ET.
“As you know, President Zelenskyy has asked to meet with me and I will be meeting with him tomorrow around 9:45 in Trump Tower,” Trump told reporters.
Earlier Thursday, Trump posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, a message purportedly from Zelenskyy requesting a face-to-face meeting with Trump while Zelenskyy would already be in New York.
Trump’s announcement that he would meet with Zelenskyy came shortly after that post.
Zelenskyy was in Washington on Thursday for meetings with top members of Congress, as well as President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.