Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) said he was glad that former President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met, but that there was an “incredibly awkward moment” when Trump mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I’m glad to see them. “It is important that there is a dialogue between President Zelensky and our nation’s Republican and Democratic leaders and the next presidential candidates,” Coons said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump and Zelensky met Friday during the Ukrainian president’s recent visit to the United States. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, praised his relationship with Putin and said he planned to work with both parties “to work out something that’s good for both parties.”
Coons said Sunday there was video showing Trump and former President Zelensky telling the Ukrainian leader that he was a “very good friend” of Putin.
“And you could see Zelensky straightening up and saying, ‘Well, I hope we’ll be a better friend of Ukraine than we’ll be a friend of Russia under President Putin,’” Coons said. “So it was a really awkward moment. .”
The Delaware senator called Putin a “war criminal” who carried out “horrible attacks” on Kiev.
“We shouldn’t see the president of the United States saying he wants to be better friends with President Vladimir Putin,” Coons said.
