Trump to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday amid tensions

Former US President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, September 27.

During a press conference on Thursday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, Trump said, "President Zelensky has asked to meet with me, and I will be meeting with him tomorrow morning at around 9:45 in Trump Tower."

Zelensky has yet to confirm the meeting, and just yesterday, three sources familiar with Trump's campaign said that the Ukrainian president did not have plans to meet with Trump during his trip to the United States.

Zelensky is in the country for the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and after reports circulated that Zelensky's team didn't want to meet up with Trump, the former US President On Thursday shared a letter from the Ukrainian president asking for a favourable time to meet up in New York.

Last week, Trump told a reporter at a campaign stop in New York that he would "probably" talk with Zelensky during his visit.

Trump has been critical of the U.S.'s response to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which started when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of its eastern European neighbour in February 2022. During his press conference on Thursday, Trump repeated his claim that if he were president, Russia would've never invaded Ukraine.

While Trump believes the war should end, he would not say whether a Ukrainian victory is in the U.S.'s best interest on the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia earlier this month.

"I think it's in the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done, negotiate a deal because we have to stop human lives from being destroyed," he said.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, have been loyal allies to Zelensky since the start of the war, providing tens of billions in military aid to Ukraine and pleading to support him if Harris wins the election.

Harris met with Zelensky on Thursday at the White House, where the vice president said she would "ensure Ukraine prevails in this war."

On Thursday, Zelenksy said on X, formerly Twitter, that he shared his "victory plan" with Harris and Biden, whom he also met on Thursday. The Ukrainian president's "victory plan" is a strategy aimed at strengthening Ukraine's position on the battlefield to reach a future peace settlement with Russia.