Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy paid the most glowing tribute to President Donald Trump during his inauguration ceremony on Monday, making it the most fervent tribute to his former election rival, Joe Biden, during the 2024 campaign. This is in contrast to his clear support for Kamala Harris.
Zelenskyy issued a statement praising Trump as a “strong man” and “always decisive” and expressing optimism for U.S.-American relations during Trump's second term. He congratulated President Trump for a second time in a video message to the Ukrainian people, also released on Monday, and suggested that Russian aggression could soon end if Trump's policies are carried out. encouraged the Ukrainian people.
Zelensky maintained a friendly relationship with Trump during his first term, denied Democratic claims that Trump engaged in inappropriate behavior such as threats during the phone call, and has played a key role in the Democratic impeachment drama. He fulfilled his role. During the Biden administration, Zelenskiy struggled to contain public dissatisfaction with former President Biden until Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After the invasion, Biden offered billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine's military, which Zelenskyy accepted with further demands. For funds and weapons.
By 2024, Mr. Zelenskiy was regularly participating in meetings with Mr. Biden and his officials. He publicly expressed doubts about whether Ukraine would be able to negotiate an end to the war without sacrificing its sovereign territory if Trump were to return to office. He also made a public appearance in the election battleground state of Pennsylvania, praising the Biden administration's support for Ukraine.
Mr. Zelenskiy began expressing enthusiastic support for Mr. Trump immediately after his election victory, becoming one of the first world leaders to meet with the president-elect in November. he continued in public praise President Trump sent his congratulations on Monday.
“Today is a day of change, but also a day of hope for solutions to many problems, including global challenges,” Zelenskiy said in a statement. “President Trump has always been decisive, and the peace-by-force policy he has announced is an opportunity to strengthen American leadership and achieve a long-term, just peace as a top priority.”
“President Trump, I wish you every success!” he concluded. “We look forward to a positive and mutually beneficial cooperation. Together we are stronger and can bring greater security, stability and economic growth to the world and to our countries.”
President Zelenskiy issued a video message in Ukrainian late Monday, saying that now was a “good opportunity” to make progress toward ending Russian aggression thanks to the inauguration.
“He's a strong person,” Zelenskiy said of Trump. “I wish President Trump and all of America success. Ukrainians are ready to work with Americans to achieve peace, real peace. This is an opportunity that must be seized.”
Zelenskiy did not attend President Trump's inauguration on Monday. Foreign leaders traditionally do not attend U.S. inauguration ceremonies, but Trump's second inauguration was unique in that it was the first of its kind. At least four foreign leaders and a number of diplomats attended, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Argentina's President Javier Millei, Paraguay's President Santiago Peña and Ecuador's President Daniel Novoa. Zelensky proposed In a recent interview, he said the war in Ukraine would keep him away, but added that he had never been invited. president Confirmed This is in a later interview.
Over the past year, Trump has maintained a friendly stance toward Zelensky, even as he called for a near-immediate halt to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and criticized the Biden administration's war spending. For example, in remarks in September, President Trump recalled his support for Zelensky during his failed impeachment attempt during his first term.
“When they made the impeachment hoax…one of the reasons we won the impeachment so easily; [Zelensky] “On the phone call with the president, I could have made a big show of it, but I didn't,” Trump told reporters at the time.
“He said President Trump did nothing wrong. The impeachment hoax died there because he said it so clearly. … He was like a lump of steel.”
During that interview, President Trump also lamented that Ukraine, and Zelensky personally, had “put themselves through hell” during the war, insisting that the war “must end.”
At the time of Trump's remarks, Zelenskyy had recently visited Pennsylvania and visited an ammunition factory to thank Ukraine for supplying the military. Mr. Zelenskiy flew to the site on an Air Force jet, which drew heavy criticism because the jet was paid for by American taxpayers.
“I am grateful to the people of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and to the people of every state where Americans are building this amazing weapon of global freedom. Together, we can support freedom and democracy. We are strengthening our defense of the country,” the Ukrainian president said at the time.
In an interview at the time, Mr. Zelensky accused then-President Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, of being “too extreme” on Ukraine and suggested that neither he nor Mr. Trump understood the war.
“His [Vance’s] The message seems to be that Ukraine must make sacrifices. “This brings us back to the question of cost and who will pay for it,” Zelenskiy said. New Yorker. “The idea that the world should end this war at the expense of Ukraine is unacceptable. However, I do not consider this concept of his to be a plan in the formal sense. This would be a terrible idea. ”
The House Oversight Committee has opened an investigation into Zelensky's trip, saying it could be interpreted as him campaigning for Biden on U.S. soil.
“The committee will examine whether the Biden-Harris administration sought to use foreign leaders to benefit Vice President Harris' presidential campaign,” said the committee's chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). If so, we are trying to determine whether they necessarily committed an abuse of power,” the statement said. investigation.
