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I WENT TO NEW YORK AND ALL I GOT WAS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to New York this week to attend the United Nation’s General Assembly meeting and to hold sideline meetings with world leaders in a bid to get more support to Ukraine, faster. He got a pledge for $8B from outgoing President Joe Biden but that’s a check that might be tough to cash if Donald Trump is elected again, given the former president’s emotional comments about both Zelensky and Ukraine this week. The Cipher Brief had a team on the ground in Ukraine this month covering a conference where former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaned on his friend Trump to make a virtual appearance, but Trump declined and sent a pre-recorded video instead. His message then was quite different – he seemed much softer and said that this war never would have happened if he were president and that he will end this war before he is officially in office if he’s re-elected. He’s been cagey on what that means, though. Trump’s latest comments sharply contrasts with comments made by his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also appeared in person in Ukraine and has been a fierce defender of the country while insisting that the U.S. will stand by Kyiv. It seems that Pompeo, who also served as CIA Director during the Trump Administration, knows something about Putin that Trump does not. Watch The Cipher Brief’s special episode of The World Deciphered from Ukraine for more on just what’s really at stake here.
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