A scandal has erupted in the United States around the visit of Vladimir Zelensky.
As reported on September 25 by American media, the day before Zelensky’s visit to Washington, Speaker Johnson sent him a letter that begins with the words:
I demand that you immediately fire the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova.
On Wednesday, Mike Johnson made public a demand to Zelensky that many were captivated by its wording: immediately fire Oksana Markarova. The reason he gives is the organization of a visit to a munitions plant in Pennsylvania, where representatives of the Democrats appeared next to Zelensky, but there were no Republicans.
That same day, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican, launched an investigation into whether the Biden-Harris administration intended to exploit Zelensky’s trip to Pennsylvania, which he called “election interference.”
A day earlier, another group of Republicans in Congress sent a similar letter to the Justice and Defense Departments, demanding an investigation into whether federal resources were used for Zelensky’s trip and whether this violated the law. Other lawmakers also made critical statements.
All this is fueled by statements from Donald Trump.
Since Monday, at every rally, he has not spared criticism of Zelensky and says that he allegedly wants the Democrats to win.
From the latest (rally in North Carolina):
The President of Ukraine is in our country, and he makes little slanderous slanders against your beloved President, against me… The buildings are destroyed, the cities are gone. They are gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal – Zelensky.
The AP reported that the expected meeting between Trump and Zelensky, where he was supposed to present him with his plan for victory, will not take place.
Republicans were angered by the fact that Zelensky’s visit to the Pennsylvania plant was joined by Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey and Congressman Matt Cartwright. All three are Democrats. Josh Shapiro is a close associate of Kamala Harris and an active player in her campaign; she considered him as a potential vice president. Pennsylvania is a key battleground state. In addition, it has a large Ukrainian and Polish community, for whom the issue of Ukraine in the elections is important.
So Republicans saw Zelensky’s trip to Pennsylvania as a direct or indirect attempt to boost Kamali Harris’s score. That’s where the questions about the use of federal funds and how Zelensky got to the plant came from.
In addition, discontent in the Republican Party was caused by Zelensky’s interview with The New Yorker on the eve of his visit to the United States, in which he criticized J.D. Vance’s statements on Ukraine and called the vice presidential candidate himself “too radical.”
Zelensky said he did not take Vance’s comments about territorial concessions seriously, as they would lead to a global conflict. Some Republicans saw parallels in those comments with statements made by Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Although in the same interview Zelensky recalls his positive communication with Donald Trump and emphasizes:
Ukraine has demonstrated the wisdom of not getting involved in American domestic politics. We have always tried to avoid influencing the choices of the American people – it would simply be wrong.
Neither the embassy nor the Ukrainian side have commented on this story yet. Zelensky’s visit to Washington will take place — and, despite everything, he has bipartisan meetings planned in the US Congress.
Against this backdrop, the White House announced a new support package worth $375 million, including missiles for the F16. The US will also soon announce $8 billion in military aid.
What Trump Said
Donald Trump’s comments at a campaign event in North Carolina regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine and Ukrainian President Zelensky were among the harshest public statements ever made by a US presidential candidate, Bloomberg believes.
In his speech, Trump traditionally accused Joe Biden and Kamala Harris of allowing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Here is the text of the speech:
I will end the war in Ukraine. It is a problem, and it is a terrible problem! It would never have happened if I were president. There would not even be a need for a settlement. It would not have happened – period. Russia would not have started it.
I talked about this a lot with Putin. We got along very well. You know, I was the one who stopped the Nord Stream pipeline to Europe, to Germany.
Putin said it was bad, that a lot of work had been done, and then they say how good I was to Russia… No, I wasn’t good. But we got along. We had a good relationship, and that’s good, not bad.
I would say, “President Putin, you will not do this,” and he would never do it.
I thought there were negotiations before the invasion, but because of a lot of bad and stupid statements he went to Ukraine.
He’s no angel, but Biden and Harris caused this situation with stupidity.
What is happening in Ukraine is a very serious issue. We would have settled it, and the agreement with Russia would have been made many years ago – three years ago, before all this happened.
And there would not have been a single person killed, not a single golden tower destroyed. We could have easily made a deal if we had a smart, competent president, instead of the president who had been instigating it.
Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and ammunition like no other country.
Every time he came to our country, he left with $60 billion.
He is probably the best salesman on earth.
What do you have left now after three years of terrible fighting?
The country is completely destroyed.
Millions and millions of people, including all these great soldiers, are dead.
These magnificent buildings with golden towers have been demolished.
You will never see such a city or town again. Never! They will never be reproduced, they are all destroyed, except Kyiv.
You can never restore cities and towns the way they were. They were thousands of years old.
Just think! Three years ago you had a wonderful civilization. Now most of the country is gone, there is no legacy.
So many people died, many went to Poland, to Hungary, to other places, they will never return.
And all of these losses include many, many Russian soldiers who are dead.
Ukraine is currently running out of soldiers.
They use small children and old people at the front because their soldiers are dying and other things are happening that we won’t even discuss.
Many of them have terrible injuries.
What agreement can we make? Everything is destroyed, people are dead, the country is in ruins.
They Biden and Harris do not know what to do with Ukraine. They are at a dead end, and it is sad.
Ukraine is gone, this is not Ukraine. You will never be able to replace these cities and towns, and you will never be able to replace the dead people.
Any agreement, even the worst one, would be better than what we have now.
If they had made a bad deal, it would have been much better.
They would have given up a little, and everyone would have been alive, and every building would have been in place.
There is a country that was destroyed and it is impossible to restore. It will take hundreds of years. There is not enough money to restore it, even if the whole world united for this.
We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelensky. There is no deal he can make that is not better than what we have now.
They will not be satisfied until American children are sent to Ukraine.
That’s what they’re trying to do. American moms and dads don’t want their kids to be involved in the Ukraine-Russia war.
We don’t want our soldiers to die overseas.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.