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Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine and said that if he is reelected in November he would immediately “have that settled.”
At a campaign rally in Detroit, Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him “the greatest salesman of all time” for Kyiv’s push to secure U.S. support in its effort to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression more than three years after Moscow’s all-out invasion.
“He just left four days ago with $60 billion, and he gets home, and he announces that he needs another $60 billion. It never ends,” Trump said.
“I will have that settled prior to taking the White House as president-elect,” said Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the U.S. election.
Ukraine’s Western allies have been working to secure long-term assistance for Kyiv amid fears that Trump’s potential reelection could curtail U.S. support. The Biden administration last week extended long-term security guarantees to Ukraine. That followed congressional approval in April of more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.
And NATO countries last week moved forward with a plan for the alliance to take over from the U.S. in coordinating military aid to Ukraine, a shift widely perceived as an effort to “Trump-proof” the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday announced a $1.5 billion aid package for Ukraine, focused primarily on the energy sector and humanitarian assistance. Harris unveiled the package at a two-day Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland.
Natalie Allison and Stuart Lau contributed reporting.
