Zelensky Finds Ukraine’s Fortunes Ties to the U.S. Election

When President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine set off for the United States this week on a high-stakes diplomatic mission, he had one goal above all others: rekindle a sense of urgency among his allies about Kyiv’s fortunes as the war with Russia heads into what promises to be another brutal winter.

But after wrapping up a whirlwind week capped by a meeting with former President Donald J. Trump on Friday in New York, he was set to return to Kyiv with “more questions than answers about the near future” for the Ukrainian war effort, said Mikhail Minakov, head of the Ukraine research program at the Kennan Institute in Washington.

The only thing that seemed clear was that Ukraine’s prospects for repelling Russian aggression were now firmly swept up in the maelstrom of the American presidential campaign.

Despite having worked studiously to avoid becoming embroiled in partisan politics — mentioning the importance of solidarity across party lines in nearly every public statement — Mr. Zelensky found himself caught in the hostile glare of Mr. Trump and his supporters.

Republicans called for an investigation into his trip to a Pennsylvania munitions factory, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said Kyiv should fire its U.S. ambassador for arranging the visit, and Mr. Trump delivered a series of speeches deriding Mr. Zelensky, misstating facts about the war, echoing Kremlin talking points and saying Ukraine was already basically lost.

“Ukraine is gone,” Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said at a North Carolina campaign event this week. “It’s not Ukraine anymore.”