Donald Trump has revealed a personal plea Volodymyr Zelensky sent him for a meeting.
The Republican nominee took the unusual step of posting a message from Mr Zelensky to his Truth Social account, with the apparent intention of making the Ukrainian leader look keen to meet him.
In the message, Mr Zelensky said he always speaks “with great respect” about Trump, and argues the two men “have to strive to understand each other and remain in close contact”.
He requested a meeting with Trump, to be held on Friday in New York, and implied it had been scheduled for Friday. Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, Trump confirmed he would meet Mr Zelensky the following day.
“All of us in Ukraine want to end this war with a just peace,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
“And we know that without America this is impossible to achieve. That’s why we have to strive to understand each other and remain in close contact.”
He added: “Days ago, we requested a meeting with you, and I really want to hear your thoughts directly, and firsthand.
“You know I always speak with great respect about everything connected to you, and that’s how it should be. I can be in New York on Friday, which would be a good time to meet.
“I believe it’s important for us to have a personal contact and to understand each other 100%.
“Let me know if you are in the city at that time – I would really like for our meeting to take place, as part of our efforts to help us end this war in a just way.”
The message was passed to Trump via Denys Sienik, the deputy chief of mission for Ukraine’s US embassy.
It is unusual for a backroom conversation between two politicians to be revealed in public, especially by one of the interlocutors themselves.
Trump’s post came amid heightened tensions between the two men, and the former president’s increasingly critical rhetoric towards Ukraine on the campaign trail.
The rift between the two men may be exacerbated by Trump’s decision to post the message, which will be interpreted as an attempt to embarrass Mr Zelensky.
In a speech in Mint Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Trump said that Mr Zelensky “refuses to make a deal” with Vladimir Putin, and that the country had been “demolished” because of his refusal to negotiate.
He added: “The president of Ukraine is in our country, and he’s making little nasty aspersions toward your favourite president: me.”
During the same speech, Trump said: “Any deal – the worst deal – would’ve been better than what we have now”, adding “the people are dead” and “the country is in rubble”.
The previous day, at a rally in Georgia, Trump said: “Every time Zelensky comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion.
“I think he’s the greatest salesman on earth. But we’re stuck in that war unless I’m president.”
Mr Zelensky has generally been complimentary about Trump in public, but said in a recent New Yorker interview that his “feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how”.
He has vociferously opposed negotiations with Russia that would result in a loss of Ukrainian territory in exchange for peace, and described JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, as “too radical”.
Trump has said he would end the Ukrainian war “in one day”, in a pledge that was later clarified by Mr Vance to mean a territorial negotiation with Russia.
After Trump began to criticise Mr Zelensky in public, Republicans in Congress refused to meet the Ukrainian president on his trip to Washington DC on Thursday.
Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, met Mr Zelensky at the White House.
