CNN —
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, claiming that the president is “rejecting the deal,” Trump’s clearest criticism yet of Zelensky’s handling of the war.
“These cities are gone. We continue to give billions of dollars to Zelensky because he refused to make a deal. Any deal he could have made would not have been better than what we have now. The country is devastated and it will never be rebuilt,” Trump said in a campaign speech in Mint Hill, North Carolina.
The comments come at a time of growing anger among Republicans on Capitol Hill over the Ukrainian president. In the House, Republicans are seeking to investigate how much U.S. taxpayer money was spent on Zelenskiy’s security trip to Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, GOP senators have warned Zelenskiy to stay out of U.S. politics after he called Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, “too extreme” in an interview published over the weekend.
The latest wave of Republican attacks speaks to broader political divisions over U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. Republican leaders have so far refused to meet with Zelensky while he’s in Washington, DC, but Democrats would welcome the opportunity. CNN sources say President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson do not currently have plans to meet with the Ukrainian president, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Vice President Kamala Harris do.
All of this serves as a stern warning to the Ukrainian president, who has relied heavily on American assistance to repel Russian aggression since it began in February 2022. While Zelenskyy has received strong backing from the Biden administration, Republican support for continued funding for Ukraine’s defense has been declining for months and now appears to be picking up steam.
Zelensky, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, warned world leaders that Russia was poised to target Ukraine’s energy supplies, including its nuclear plants, and that a serious attack on the country was imminent.
“Ukrainians will never accept why anyone in the world believes they can now impose on Ukraine such a brutal colonial past, which does not suit anyone today, instead of a normal and peaceful life,” he said, calling for “the support of all countries of the world” to ensure peace in Ukraine.
Trump appeared unfazed.
“He brings home $60 billion every time he comes to our country. He’s probably the greatest salesman on the planet,” Trump said of Zelensky on Wednesday.
In his speech, Trump blamed Biden and Harris for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, claiming that “every foolish thing they said and every foolish thing they did created this situation, and now they’re in trouble.”
“They just don’t know what to do. They’re trapped in a situation. The sad thing is, they just don’t know what to do. Ukraine is gone, it’s not Ukraine anymore. You can never bring back these cities and towns, you can never bring back the people who died, so many who died,” Trump said.
He said a deal to cede some territory to Russia early in the conflict could have prevented further disaster. Trump argued that Biden could have worked out a deal between Russia and Ukraine that would have avoided bloodshed, and that even a “bad deal” in which Ukraine “made some concessions” would have been better than war.
“The deal could have been made. No one would have died. The Tower of Gold would not have been left in pieces. With a competent president, the deal could have been made,” Trump said.
But Trump argued that the destruction wrought by Putin’s war in Ukraine meant the opportunity for a deal no longer existed.
“What deal can we make? What deal can we make? It’s been destroyed. People are dead. The country is in rubble. Who are the people who allowed this to happen? Who are these people?”
Asked during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday whether he thought Ukraine should cede territory in exchange for an end to the war, Vance said “everything will be on the table” but added that “nothing is definitely on the table.”
“That’s why we’re negotiating, especially with a capable person like Donald Trump, because we should be trying to have a real dialogue between both parties and other stakeholders about how to end this war,” Vance said on a conference call with reporters.
“As he has repeatedly said, the killing has to stop,” Vance added. “This is not in America’s interest. I don’t think it’s in Ukraine’s or Europe’s best interest for this to continue indefinitely.”
Vance said the “biggest problem” was that the war was “a distraction and a drain on resources at a time when the American people are suffering.”
Speaking on Shawn Ryan’s podcast, Vance offered a glimpse into how a Trump-Vance administration might work to end the war, saying he believes there could be a “demilitarized zone” established along the current military demarcation line.
House Republicans launched new attacks on Zelenskiy on Wednesday, criticizing his recent visit to a munitions factory in Pennsylvania ahead of key meetings with President Biden and other allies as part of a weeklong effort in the U.S. to shore up support for the war.
Republicans say Zelenskiy’s visit to Pennsylvania, a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential election and home to a large ethnic Ukrainian population, was intended to provide political support to Democrats.
Johnson called on President Zelensky to fire Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, for organizing a recent trip to a manufacturing site in Pennsylvania.
“This tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to support Democrats and is clear election interference,” Johnson wrote Wednesday.
Meanwhile, House Oversight Chairman James Comer has opened an investigation into Zelenskiy’s use of a U.S. military plane to fly to the Pennsylvania facility.
“The Committee is seeking to determine whether the Biden-Harris Administration sought to use a foreign leader to benefit Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign and, if so, whether it necessarily committed an abuse of power,” Comer wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to the White House, Justice Department and Defense Department.
Pentagon spokesman James Adams told CNN in a statement on Thursday that the flight to Pennsylvania “was a Department of Defense-funded mission. The Department of Defense requested Military Air Transportation (MILAIR) assistance to facilitate travel for senior State and Department of Defense officials.”
“These officials were conducting official business related to U.S. security assistance to Ukraine and stopped at Newark Liberty International Airport where they joined President Zelensky before traveling to Wilkes-Barre International Airport in Pennsylvania,” the statement added.
In an interview with The New Yorker, Zelensky said Vance was “too extreme” and sent the message that Ukraine must sacrifice territory for peace.
“The idea that the world will end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable, but I don’t consider his idea a plan in the formal sense,” Zelensky said. “If someone actually tries to implement it, it’s a terrible idea to make Ukraine pay the costs of stopping the war by giving up territory. … And it doesn’t necessarily end the war. It’s just a slogan.”
When asked about the comments on Wednesday, Vance and other Republicans in the Senate sent a clear message to the Ukrainian president.
Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Republican leadership who is running to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the next Congress, told CNN that Zelensky “shouldn’t be involved in American politics” after he called Vance “too extreme.”
“I think this is a major miscalculation by President Zelensky,” Cornyn said. “If he wants to help Ukraine, he should stay out of American politics.”
Asked whether it would be appropriate for Zelensky to criticize Vance, Senate Republican leader John Thune added: “I think he would be wise to stay out of US politics. They have differences on some issues, but it’s not his place to get into that in the middle of a US election.”
This story has been updated with additional reports.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
