Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the White House, announced on Thursday that he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York this Friday morning (local time).

“As you know, Zelensky has asked to meet me. I will meet him tomorrow morning around 09:45 (local time; 16:45 Greek time) at Trump Tower”, in New York, the tycoon told the press.

There has been plenty of speculation this week about a potential meeting between the two men.

According to the US press, Mr Trump did not take kindly to an interview Mr Zelensky gave to the New Yorker magazine, in which the Ukrainian president opined that the former Republican president “doesn’t really know how to stop this war”.

The right-wing US presidential candidate has repeatedly said he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours” — without ever explaining how.

In recent months, he has been increasingly critical of the billions spent by the US to support the Ukrainian armed forces in the war with Russia, demanding that Europe take on a much greater burden, “to move”.

The Ukrainian president was in Washington yesterday, where he was welcomed by his counterpart, outgoing US president Joe Biden, and Donald Trump’s opponent in the November 5 election, vice president Kamala Harris.