Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and said now is an opportunity for the United States to unite.
The deadly shooting was one of many topics touched upon by politicians during what they called a “very good phone call” between Trump and the president. he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“He congratulated me on a very successful Republican National Convention and on being the Republican nominee for President of the United States,” Trump, 78, wrote.
“He condemned last Saturday’s heinous assassination attempt and said that at times like these, Americans should come together in a spirit of unity.”
Trump said the meeting could be a harbinger of future good relations and confidently suggested he could end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine if he was elected to the White House in November.
“I thank President Zelenskyy for reaching out to me. As the next President of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end this war that has taken so many lives and destroyed countless innocent families.”
“Working together, the two sides can negotiate an agreement that ends the violence and paves the way for prosperity,” Trump wrote.
The former president has repeatedly criticized Biden, 81, for Russia’s war against Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack by the terrorist group.
“I will end every international crisis that this administration has created. The horrific wars with Russia and Ukraine would never have happened if I were president, and the war caused by the attack on Israel would never have happened if I was president,” Trump said in a keynote address at the Republican National Convention on Thursday.
In a record-breaking speech, he boasted that he was “the first president in modern times not to start a new war.”
Zelenskiy confirmed the call on Friday and said they were planning further talks to discuss “how to make peace fair and truly lasting.”
Here is the latest on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump:
“Ukraine will always be grateful for the US assistance in strengthening its capabilities to counter Russian terrorism,” the Ukrainian president said. I said it in X.
The call came nearly five years after the phone call between the two that sparked Trump’s first impeachment, in which the then-president allegedly used roughly $400 million in military aid as a bargaining chip to pressure former Vice President Biden to open an investigation into Ukraine’s role in the 2016 US election.
Zelensky and Trump had an uneasy relationship during Trump’s term, with both sides criticizing each other.
A former top commander once dubbed Zelenskiy “the greatest salesman of all time” for receiving billions of dollars in military aid from the United States during the country’s ongoing war with Russia.
Zelensky, meanwhile, has criticised Trump’s ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he did not understand why Trump had not made it clear earlier this week whether he would support Ukraine or Russia.
“Putin killed all the values that we stand for today,” Zelensky said, adding, “That’s why I don’t understand why Donald Trump would side with Putin. So, for me it’s unbelievable.”
“So if Donald Trump doesn’t know whether to support Ukraine or Russia, he will be at odds with society, because supporting Russia means opposing the United States,” Zelensky said. He told CNN on Monday.
