Trump’s son-in-law was left with a negative impression from his meeting with Zelensky in 2019 – The Washington Post

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has had a negative impression of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since as far back as 2019.

This is reported by The Washington Post.

The outlet notes that Kushner first encountered Ukrainian politics in 2019, when he was introduced to Zelensky. According to the paper, his impression from that meeting was extremely negative.

“He first met Zelensky in June 2019, a few weeks after the Ukrainian president’s election, when he was seated next to him at a dinner in Brussels. ‘The entire dinner was organized to bring Zelensky and Kushner together, but it didn’t work,’ said a person familiar with the situation. According to him, Zelensky — a comedian with limited English and no diplomatic experience beyond playing an accidental president in a TV series — appeared incapable of small talk, and they barely interacted. Seven weeks later, Trump would ask Zelensky over the phone to investigate his political rival Joe Biden — and that became the basis for Trump’s first impeachment,” the article says.

According to WP, it was Donald Trump personally who initiated Kushner’s involvement in the negotiation process. This happened after reports about the wiretapping of conversations involving Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov.

“Trump hinted to Witkoff that Kushner could join him at the meeting with Putin. One source said that Witkoff himself personally asked Kushner to take part in the talks. Trump’s plan, drafted after discussions between Witkoff, Kushner, and Russian businessman Kirill Dmitriev, was received in Kyiv and in European capitals extremely negatively — as a capitulation to Moscow. In the following weeks, the plan was partially revised, but at the meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Putin insistently pushed for the toughest points for Kyiv, including the transfer to Russia of territory in eastern Ukraine,” the outlet writes.

At the same time, WP notes that European and Ukrainian negotiators generally viewed Kushner’s involvement rather positively.

The paper describes in detail how roles were divided within the American team:

“According to one diplomat, Witkoff focused on territorial concessions, urging the Ukrainians to give Russia the still-unconquered part of Donetsk region in exchange for peace. Kushner, however, he said, showed more attentiveness to Ukraine’s position and was quicker to absorb new information. ‘He’s smart, and he has a soul,’ another European diplomat said,” WP writes.

Recall that, according to media reports, Washington is pressuring Zelensky to agree to withdraw troops from Donetsk region. The Ukrainian president has already refused.