Trump moans that Zelenskyy wants Harris to win US election

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted “so badly” for Vice President Kamala Harris to win the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

“I see Zelenskyy is here, I think Zelenskyy is the greatest salesman in history,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Zelenskyy on Sunday visited a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania — a critical swing state in November’s knife-edge election — as part of a tour to shore up support for Kyiv’s resistance against Russia’s war, providing a fillip to the Harris campaign which riled Trump.

“Every time he comes into the country, he walks away with $60 billion … He wants them [the Democrats] to win this election so badly, but I would do it differently, I will work out peace,” Trump said.

The Republican candidate added that if he wins the election, “the first thing I’m gonna do is call up Zelenskyy and call up President Putin and I’m gonna say, ‘You gotta make a deal, this is crazy.’”

Trump has repeatedly vowed to negotiate an end to the conflict, though he has declined to give further details and wouldn’t say whether he wanted Ukraine to defeat Russia when pressed at the presidential debate with Harris earlier this month. He has also threatened to cut U.S. aid to Ukraine.

During the debate, Harris tore into Trump over his stance on the war, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “would be sitting in Kyiv right now” with Poland in his sights if Trump were in the Oval Office. Long wary of Moscow, Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies since Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy’s trip to Pennsylvania is a boon for Harris, who has sought to use U.S. support for Ukraine to appeal to the state’s 750,000-strong Polish-American community. Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 by about 80,000 votes.

Harris recently hired Filip Jotevski as a “national diaspora and ethnic engagement director.” And a giant fundraising group supporting Harris produced an ad posted on Facebook specifically targeting Polish voters.  

Republicans have also been targeting the Poles of Pennsylvania.

Trump was initially supposed to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda on Sunday in Pennsylvania, where they would attend the unveiling of a new memorial to the Polish anti-communist workers’ “Solidarity” movement. Trump ended up canceling, with Duda’s office citing security concerns to Polish media.

The Republican candidate did post a congratulatory message to Polish Americans on his Truth Social platform, and Duda urged the diaspora to vote — without an endorsement: “Our political strength, your votes cast in American elections, decide the future of America but also the future of Poland,” he said, per TVP World.

Zelenskyy is slated to meet with Trump in the coming days after first speaking with U.S. President Joe Biden and Harris, and attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

While he avoided mentioning Trump by name, Zelenskyy said last Friday during an interview that if Western partners really want Ukraine to win the war they have to do everything they can to help Kyiv win “today, while all the officials who want the victory of Ukraine are in official positions.”

Zelenskyy’s office refused to confirm the swing state trip was chosen for any purpose other than “to pay a visit of gratitude” to the Scranton munitions factory, which manufactures shells used by Ukraine’s military.

“This is a key plant, they increased the 155 mm [shells] production specifically for us. And that would be logical to thank them,” a Ukrainian official close to the president told POLITICO on condition of anonymity, adding that Zelenskyy planned to visit a different state every time he goes to the U.S.

Sarah Wheaton contributed to this report.