US vice-president Kamala Harris met president Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine on Thursday at the White House in a sign that president Joe Biden’s administration is positioning her to take over a politically fraught diplomatic relationship if she wins the election in November.
The meeting came shortly after Mr Biden announced $8 billion (€7 billion) worth of military support to the war-torn country.
Ms Harris, who has met Mr Zelenskiy a half-dozen times since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, said at the White House on Thursday that she would “ensure Ukraine prevails in this war,” adding that president Vladimir Putin of Russia “could end the war tomorrow”.
Ms Harris said those who would have Ukraine trade territory for peace were supporting “proposals of surrender” – a dig at former president Donald Trump, her Republican opponent, and his scepticism of aid for Ukraine.
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She added that the fight in Ukraine “matters to the people of America,” and framed the conflict as one that the American people should recognise as highly consequential.
“The most important moments in our history have come when we stood up to aggressors like Putin,” she said, warning that the Russian leader would not stop with Ukraine, and would possibly even look into encroaching on Nato territory, if he succeeds in his campaign.
“History is so clear in reminding us,” Ms Harris said, “the United States cannot and should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. Isolation is not insulation.”
Neither Ms Harris nor Mr Zelenskiy took questions from reporters after about nine minutes of joint remarks.
The vice-president is not scheduled to hold any meetings with other major allies before the election, advisers said, the starkest sign yet that she will turn her energy to swing-state barnstorming and focusing on issues that voters have said will decide this election: the economy, abortion and immigration.
For his part, Mr Trump has waded into international affairs at campaign events, often veering off message to nurture grievances or attack perceived opponents.
As he gave a speech Wednesday in North Carolina that had been promoted as focusing on the economy, he spent much of his time telling supporters that Iran might have been behind the two assassination attempts against him. US officials have said there is no evidence to link them to Iranian threats.
Mr Trump said Thursday he would meet Friday morning with Mr Zelenskiy at Trump Tower in Manhattan, a meeting the Ukrainian leader had requested.
At his event Wednesday, Mr Trump spent several minutes discussing the war in Ukraine, criticising Mr Zelenskiy for “making little nasty aspersions” about him, and musing aloud that he did not understand why the Ukrainians did not cede territory to the Russian invaders.
“If they made a bad deal, it would’ve been much better,” Mr Trump said. “They would’ve given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be ageing for another 2,000 years.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.