Even in the calmest of times, US partners and allies spend a lot of energy figuring out how best to navigate our domestic politics.
With just thirty-seven days to go before one of the most divisive and decisive US elections in memory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s fraught visit to the United States in recent days underscored both the historic stakes of our election and the perils involved in maneuvering around all parties.
As the Atlantic Council’s John Herbst writes, Zelenskyy’s trip had a dual purpose. First, he wanted to get permission from President Joe Biden to use US Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to hit military targets in Russia—something he again failed to achieve despite all the logic in his favor (for more on the White House’s misguided caution regarding Ukraine, read my column from earlier this month).
Second, he wanted to meet with both presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, to ensure that US support for his country—in its fight against Russia’s murderous and illegal war—isn’t lost in our electoral scrum.
That’s where the problems began.
Zelenskyy caused what Herbst calls “a firestorm in Republican circles” through actions early in his trip.
First, he visited a US Army ammunition plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to express his gratitude to workers for making armaments, particularly 155-millimeter Howitzer rounds, for his country’s defense. Then he presided over the signing of an ambitious cooperation agreement between Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and counterparts from the southeastern Ukrainian regional administration of Zaporizhzhia. Ahead of the trip, Zelenskyy also gave an interview to the New Yorker where he spoke of vice-presidential candidate JD Vance’s “radical” views on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s trip threatened to blow up in his face, with House Speaker Mike Johnson demanding that Zelenskyy fire his ambassador in Washington and the Trump campaign refraining from confirming a long-anticipated meeting with the Ukrainian leader. The backdrop for the newly erupting anger was memories of the July 2019 Trump-Zelenskyy phone call that figured in the former president’s first impeachment process.
Herbst is a former US ambassador to Ukraine and one of the most influential and well-informed voices on why US support for Kyiv is in the US national interest and the global interest. So it’s worth reading his account of how Trump and Zelenskyy finally managed to meet on Friday—and heal some wounds.
They jointly spoke to the media thereafter and described their meeting in positive ways. The fast-escalating Republican criticism of Zelenskyy came to a screeching stop, influenced as well by 800,000 Polish-American and Ukrainian-American voters to be won over in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most crucial electoral prize this year.
“Whatever the explanation for this turn of events,” writes Herbst, “it is bad news for the naifs on the political right who see no problem in abandoning Ukraine to Putin’s tender mercies. And that is good for the United States.”
If you like Herbst’s account, it’s worth reading as well his two dispatches from recent trips to Ukraine—one on the country’s upbeat mood after its Kursk offensive and another on how Ukraine’s incursion into Russia has changed the war.
Frederick Kempe is president and chief executive officer of the Atlantic Council. You can follow him on X: @FredKempe.
This edition is part of Frederick Kempe’s Inflection Points newsletter, a column of dispatches from a world in transition. To receive this newsletter throughout the week, sign up here.
Further reading
Sat, Sep 28, 2024
The storm clouds may be parting after Zelenskyy’s tumultuous US visit
New Atlanticist By John E. Herbst
The Ukrainian president’s meetings with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump seesawed between low and high drama.
Wed, Sep 18, 2024
Dispatch from Kyiv: The Kursk offensive is working, but Ukrainians are worried about US wobbling
New Atlanticist By John E. Herbst
Morale in Kyiv has been boosted by the early success of the incursion into Kursk, but tempered by concerns over US support.
Wed, Sep 11, 2024
Experts react: What the presidential debate revealed about how Trump and Harris would conduct foreign policy
New Atlanticist By
On Tuesday night in Philadelphia, the two candidates often presented sharply contrasting visions on a range of foreign policy issues, from tariffs to energy and immigration, and from China to the Middle East.
Image: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 22, 2024. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS