Navigating US presidential politics, Zelenskyy met Trump and Harris. Now comes a harder part

KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is back home leading Ukraine’s fight against Russia after a U.S. trip that brought him face to face with the American leaders who will help decide his country’s future.

The Biden administration pledged more than $8 billion in continued support to Ukraine, guaranteeing military aid until a new U.S. administration takes power.

But Zelenskyy found himself briefly mired in domestic politics before meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York.

And the Ukrainian’s leader’s longer-term strategic aim — convincing his allies to adopt a victory plan that he is promoting — remains elusive and out of his control, analysts and officials said. So does the aim of using far-reaching Western weapons against Russia, the most immediate element of Zelenskyy's plan.

Zelenskyy navigated partisan politics

Zelenskyy’s visit to an ammunition plant in the swing state of Pennsylvania upset Republicans, and House Speaker Mike Johnson fired off an open letter saying the visit was part of a partisan campaign to support Democrats. He demanded that Zelenskyy fire his ambassador to the U.S., which hasn't happened.

There was talk of a meeting with Trump being called off but the two men met in New York on Friday. Zelenskyy also irritated some Republicans when he told The New Yorker that Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, “is too radical.”

Still, Zelenskyy presented his vision for victory to both Trump, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, and walked away with more assistance, which will guarantee that Ukraine will be able to count on American aid until the new administration comes to power.

“The outcome of these two meetings was that Ukraine publicly showed it is engaging equally with both candidates. Ukraine has no favorites and is ready for open, normal relations with any future administration,” said Oleksandr Kraiev, an analyst from the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism.

Long-range weapons are still a red line

But the Biden administration’s red line remains long-range Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, even though Ukraine has long been lobbying for the U.S. to drop that limit.

The U.S. fears escalation, but Zelenskyy thinks providing Ukraine with such capabilities would be a step toward ending the war, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

“The lifting of these informal restrictions will undoubtedly serve as a key indicator that decisive steps toward ending the war have been taken,” Podolyak said. “Of course, this won’t lead to an immediate end to everything. But we want to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we want to understand how and when this war will be resolved.”

Ukraine’s leadership is waiting for the next meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany — defense leaders from the 50-plus partner nations who regularly gather to coordinate weapons aid for the war. There, Ukraine will see how the group has digested a victory plan that Zelenskyy has been presenting.

Zelenskyy hasn't publicly presented that plan, but U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the U.S. said on Sept. 17 that she had seen parts of it and that "it lays out a strategy and plan that can work.“

Ukraine looks for bipartisan support

Podolyak said that Ukraine “succeeded in delivering the message” with respect to the resources required to sustain its defenses in the current, and potentially decisive, stage of the war."

No public pledges of support were made for Ukraine’s vision during the meetings, but Podolyak says Kyiv anticipated that a response to the victory plan would likely come during the Ramstein meeting on Oct. 12.

“We just need to wait a little, as our partner countries are now holding internal discussions," he said. "We will see the results soon enough.”

Ukrainian lawmakers have been trying to win over Trump-allied officials for months, two of them said. One lawmaker said that attempts to solicit Republicans sympathetic to Ukraine’s cause haven’t yielded breakthroughs. He spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about sensitive matters.

Zelenskyy and his nation still have elusive goals

Zelenskyy said that everything necessary for Ukraine to win the war with Russia is “on the partner’s table” — an indication Kyiv has no option but to wait for their decision.

He made this statement while addressing the nation at the end of his trip to the U.S.

“The victory plan has been presented to America, and we have explained every point,” he said.

But analysts and lawmakers said Ukraine sees both presidential candidates as potentially problematic.

Many are concerned by Trump's claims that the war could be resolved quickly, fearing that could mean negotiating on Russia’s terms, potentially involving territorial concessions and giving up on security guarantees from Western allies.

Meanwhile, others said they believe Harris would continue Biden’s foreign policy, which many Ukrainians and outside observers say is driven primarily by fear of wider war rather than than a well thought-out strategy for beating Russia.

Allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles would be one crucial signal that the US is committed to bolstering Kyiv’s hand in the long and difficult war.