WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Kamala Harris criticized her US election rival Donald Trump’s “surrender” policy on Ukraine on Thursday, while the Republican said he would meet its president despite a bitter row over the war with Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky presented a so-called “victory” plan to President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House, with Biden announcing a new military aid package worth nearly $8 billion for a struggling Kyiv.
Standing with Zelensky at her side, Harris did not mention Trump by name but said there were “some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory.”
“These proposals are the same of those of (President Vladimir) Putin. And let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender,” she said, referring to the Russian leader.
During a separate meeting in the Oval Office with Zelensky, Biden pledged that “Russia will not prevail” in the war it launched in February 2022.
“Ukraine will prevail, and we’ll continue to stand by you every step of the way,” Biden said.
Dressed in his trademark military-style outfit, Zelensky replied that “we deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side.”
But Zelensky is navigating the choppy waters of a US presidential election on 5 November that could sink the staunch support that he has received from Washington in the past two-and-a-half years.