How Trump is using Zelenskyy's visit to the US in the election race
During his visit to the United States, Volodymyr Zelenskyy faced a wave of criticism from Donald Trump and other Republicans. And its degree is growing every day.
Why this happened and how it could threaten Ukraine - read in the RBC-Ukraine article.
A visit to the plant as a reason for criticism
Suddenly, Ukraine faced a new crisis on the diplomatic front. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit, which was supposed to resolve a number of issues in relations with the United States, instead led to a new escalation. Although not through the fault of the Ukrainian side.
Zelenskyy's previously announced meeting with Republican candidate Donald Trump was essentially canceled after the Ukrainian president visited a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the hometown of US President Joe Biden. Zelenskyy also met with the Ukrainian diaspora in the state, which is one of the largest in the United States.
At the same time, Pennsylvania is a so-called “swing” state in the elections, meaning that the toughest fight is taking place between Republicans and Democrats. According to many forecasts, it is the winner of the Pennsylvania election who will become the future president of the United States. In addition, on the eve of his visit, Zelenskyy criticized the statements about Ukraine made by Trump's vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, in an interview with the New Yorker.
Trump interpreted this as Zelenskyy's attempt to play along with Harris, and directly accused the Ukrainian president of wanting the Democrat to win.
Trump's rhetoric on Ukraine is not new. He has spoken similarly about Kyiv before, and RBC-Ukraine has already analyzed the reasons for this rhetoric. But the current demarche risks going much further.
Moreover, over the course of this week, Trump's rhetoric has become more and more strident. In his latest speech, he said, with characteristic exaggerations, that “Ukraine is no more,” “millennial cities have been destroyed,” and that “children and old people” are fighting at the front because “soldiers are running out.” In addition, Trump actually voiced the essence of his mysterious “peace plan for Ukraine” for the first time. According to the Republican, the “worst deal” would be better than the current war, and Ukraine should “give something back” before 2022, and then there would be no war. Obviously, if he wins the November elections, this is the approach to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that Trump will be guided by.
Aggravation against the backdrop of elections
At the beginning of the year, when the saga of the large aid package to Ukraine was unfolding, many Republicans were in favor of it. The decision was blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson and a small faction of Trumpists. Since then, Trump's influence on the Republican Party has become even stronger. Consequently, more influential members of the party have joined the criticism of Ukraine.
In an open letter, Mike Johnson called on Zelenskyy to fire Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova. The reason is the same: alleged interference in the election by organizing Zelenskyy's visit to an ammunition plant.
“There was not a single Republican there, because - on purpose - not a single Republican was invited there. This trip was clearly a partisan event designed to help the Democrats, and it was definitely an interference (by the Ukrainian side) in the election process,” Johnson's letter reads.
At the same time, a group of nine Republican congressmen asked the Department of Justice and the Pentagon's inspectors general to conduct a “full investigation into the use of U.S. military assets and federal resources in connection with the visit.”
The Republicans also initiated an investigation into the Biden administration's abuses of cooperation with Zelenskyy. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and White House Counsel Edward Siskel in this regard.
At the same time, in the past, presidential administrations have regularly used military aircraft to transport foreign leaders to meet with American state and local officials, Axios notes.
“The election campaign is the key story here. There are some questions, of course, but the Republicans would have found something to pick on one way or another. And since, most likely, the latest polls have shown a very disappointing trend for them, they decided to rely on the most aggressive rhetoric about the Russian-Ukrainian war, to push the case of a possible apocalypse, World War III, and so on. In this regard, Zelensky's visit and the events around it are a very convenient target, which they used to the fullest,” political analyst Igor Reiterovich tells RBC-Ukraine.
Author - Olena Madiak, 26/09/2024
