Zelenskiy Meets With Trump, Presents 'Victory Plan' Amid Tensions Over War Aims

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had "very meaningful" discussions with former U.S. leader Donald Trump amid tensions over what critics call the ex-president's pro-Russia stance.

"A very meaningful meeting with Donald Trump," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram following the September 27 talks at Trump Tower in New York.

"I presented him with the Victory Plan. It set out in detail the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of the war for our people. We discussed many details."

"We have a common view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin cannot win. The Ukrainians must win," Zelenskiy added.

Standing next to Zelenskiy prior to the talks, Trump said that if elected in November, "We're going to work with both parties" to end the war in Ukraine.

"[I] have a very good relationship [with Zelenskiy], and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin," Trump said.

"I think if we win [in November], I think we're going to get it resolved very quickly," he added.

Prior to the meeting, U.S. media had speculated the session might not take place after Trump took offense to Zelenskiy's comments in a magazine interview that stated Trump "doesn't really know how to stop the war."

"The fact that we’re even together today is a very good sign," Trump said as the two arrived at a conference room at Trump Tower.

Zelenskiy met with Trump after holding talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Washington as Russia keeps pounding Ukraine with deadly strikes.

Relations between Zelenskiy, who is looking to shore up support for his war effort, and Trump are cool, and the meeting comes after the former U.S. president and current Republican presidential candidate reiterated his doubts that Ukraine can repel Russia's unprovoked invasion and win the war.

In a debate with Harris, Trump refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war.

Trump has also said that Ukraine should cut a deal to end the war and suggested that Kyiv should have made concessions to Russia in the months before Moscow's invasion, saying that "any deal -- the worst deal -- would’ve been better than what we have now."

On September 26, Biden welcomed Zelenskiy to the White House on September 26 after announcing billions in military aid for Kyiv and insisting again that Russia "will not prevail" in its invasion of Ukraine.

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Zelenskiy presented Biden with what he has referred to as his "victory plan" and again requested that the United States lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons it has provided to strike deep inside Russia at military targets.

Few details are known about the "victory plan" put together by Zelenskiy, who has been on an intensive diplomatic mission since he arrived in the United States for the annual UN General Assembly earlier this week.

Zelenskiy has indicated he would again seek permission to use long-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russia to prevent attacks on its cities and infrastructure, a move Ukraine's allies are divided upon.

"Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail, and we'll continue to stand by you every step of the way," Biden said as he hosted Zelenskiy in the Oval Office after thanking him for presenting his plan.

"We deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side," said Zelenskiy, dressed in a dark green military-style outfit.

Zelenskiy later shared his "victory plan" with Harris at the White House. Harris told Zelenskiy that her support for the people of Ukraine was unwavering.

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Harris also took a swipe at her opponent in the upcoming presidential elections, saying that Trump's suggestions about Ukraine cutting a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war were not proposals for peace but "proposals for surrender."

Biden earlier on September 26 announced more than $8 billion in military aid for Kyiv and repeated in a statement that the United States will "provide Ukraine with the support it needs to win this war."

The package includes for the first time a system called Joint Standoff Weapon -- a precision-guided glide bomb with a range of up to 130 kilometers launched from fighter aircraft -- as well as an additional Patriot air-defense battery and hundreds more Patriot missiles and AMRAAMs (advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles).

The United States, Ukraine's main supporter, and Western allies have given Kyiv billions of dollars in military aid and other assistance while also slapping several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.

Zelenskiy also met with U.S. lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol. After the meeting, Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) said the Ukrainian president asked for only one thing: permission to use U.S. weapons to strike "legitimate military targets" deep inside Russia.

Zelenskiy told senators he planned to hit specific targets, including air bases, that the Russian military uses in its attacks on Ukraine.

In the latest massive Russian drone attack on September 27, three people were killed and another 11, including a child, were wounded in Ukraine's Danube port of Izmayil, Odesa regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported.

Izmayil is a critical hub for Ukraine's grain exports located on the border with NATO member Romania, and has been repeatedly targeted by Russian strikes.

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Romanian authorities in the Tulcea region just across the border from Izmayil issued an alert for the public, warning that drones had been located close to the frontier.

Later, Romania's Defense Ministry said in statement that its national airspace was likely breached for under 3 minutes by a Russian drone.

The ministry said it had scrambled two F-16 fighters belonging to the Romanian Air Force, which were later joined by two F-18 warplanes belonging to fellow NATO member Spain. All four fighter planes returned safely to their air bases in southeastern Romania, the ministry said.