Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US President Donald Trump at UN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US President Donald Trump at UN
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US president Donald Trump at UN / wiki
By Ben Aris in Berlin September 25, 2019

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sat with US President Donald Trump for an uncomfortable half an hour in front of the cameras at the UN General Assembly on September 25.

Trump dropped a bomb on Zelenskiy after the question of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia was broached.

“I really hope that you and President [Vladimir] Putin can get together and solve your problems. That would be a tremendous achievement and I know you are trying to do that,” Trump told a stony faced Zelenskiy.

Ukraine has been relying on Washington to back up its position against Russia as it seeks to eject Russian troops from its territory in the Donbas and rebuild its ruined economy after five years of chaos.

Trump’s comments were remarkably soft on Russia and offered little in the way of reassurances to Ukraine of US support in its conflict with Russia.

There was much comment on Zelenskiy's body language at the meeting too as he looked uncomfortable and there was little chemistry between the two men.

However, experts on Zelenskiy commented that this was probably due to the fact that he was simply struggling to understand as his English remains functional.

“Sorry to be a spoiler like this, but that's actually just Zelenskiy's listening face. He's not a fluent English speaker. He has to listen closely to comprehend. I know, because I've had conversations with him in Russian and English. There's a very different face for each language,” tweeted RFE/RL correspondent Christopher Miller.

This was Zelenskiy's first high profile appearance on the international stage and he was clearly struggling a little to cope. Moreover he arrived to a news storm as the “whistle blower” scandal was blowing full force. Iulia Mendel, Zelenskiy's pressperson, reported that every major news organisation in the city was requesting an interview with Zelenskiy as the Ukraine scandal had been the top story for the last 24 hours.

“We've been contacted by all possible American media outlets,” Mendel said in a breathless video blog from New York. “We're talking about CNN, ABC, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times. We even spoke with The New Yorker... An incredible amount of media people... We're talking about Radio Svoboda, BBC, CBS, NBC, VOA... It seems to me that Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the most sought after person in the USA.”

Zelenskiy's mediocre command of English was on display after the formal statements with Trump were over when a reporter asked the Ukrainian president if he had been pressured into opening an investigation into former US vice president Joe Biden by Trump.

He stammered through a reply (and had to ask an aide for the word for “election” in English) but managed to hold his ground saying that he “doesn't want to interfere” in an “open and democratic election". Zelenskiy was desperately trying not to be drawn into the snowballing US domestic political storm that opened that day with the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announcing the launch of an impeachment process against Trump.

Earlier a transcript of a call between Trump and Zelenskiy was released that showed the Ukrainian president doing his best to get on the right side of Trump. He agreed with Trump’s comments that German Chancellor Angela Merkel “wasn't doing anything for Ukraine” and claimed that the Ukraine’s ties with the US were more important than those with Europe.

However, the face-to-face meeting at the UN must have been a disappointment for the Zelenskiy team as he failed to follow through and build a rapport.

Zelenskiy was hesitant as he needs to maintain good relations with the US irrespective of who is in office. Trump faces re-election in 2022 and could possibly be ousted before then. But even if he stays on Zelenskiy needs support from both sides of the house.

“If Ukraine loses the United States as a strong backer, its negotiating position with Russia is much weaker, no matter what the Europeans do. This isn’t just about a particular aid package,” Olya Oliker, director for Europe and Central Asia at the Crisis Group, said in a tweet.

As for Trump, he also came off badly. The comment calling on Zelenskiy to “make up” with Putin will go down poorly and only adds more fuel to the “he’s a Putin puppet” fire that is already blazing. With this comment Trump has also suggested that he doesn't see Ukraine as very important, which in itself undermines Zelenskiy's position ahead of the first of the Normandy Four meetings of his administration due later this month.

But the bottom line is Trump, facing a storm of criticism over his attempts to bend Ukraine’s arm into giving him some useful dirt on his likely presidential campaign rival Biden, will simply be miffed that Zelenskiy has not stepped up to help him.

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