Ukraine's Zelenskyy Airs Concerns Over U.S. Election as NATO Summit Begins
As this year's NATO Summit begins, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the world is looking ahead to the U.S. presidential election for guidance, even as the security bloc's meeting focuses on Ukraine.
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00:00At this year's NATO summit in Washington, D.C., members of the 32-nation alliance have
00:05Ukraine on their minds.
00:07The country has been at war with Russia for more than two years and is under consideration
00:12for NATO membership.
00:13Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also attending as a non-member partner.
00:18He's seeking more military aid from alliance members — aid U.S. President Joe Biden promised
00:23was coming in the form of more air defense systems.
00:27Zelensky says he's concerned about something else that might affect both the alliance and
00:31the war in his country — November's U.S. presidential election.
00:36Now everyone is waiting for November.
00:43Americans are waiting for November in Europe, Middle East, in the Pacific.
00:49The whole world is looking to autumn, looking to November.
00:54And truly speaking, Putin awaits November, too.
01:02The U.S. is the largest contributor to the NATO alliance, and under Biden, the largest
01:06contributor of military aid to Ukraine.
01:09But Zelensky and others have wondered publicly if that might change if Biden's opponent Donald
01:14Trump, who has publicly expressed skepticism of NATO and praised Vladimir Putin, is re-elected.
01:21On the summit's opening day, the two candidates offered very different visions.
01:25Make no mistake, Ukraine can and will stop Putin, especially with our full collective
01:34support.
01:35And they have our full support.
01:39I didn't even know what the hell NATO was too much before, but it didn't take me long
01:42to figure it out, like about two minutes.
01:45And the first thing I figured out was they weren't paying 28 countries.
01:49And they said, sir, could I ask you, I said, you have to pay your bills.
01:53They said, sir, may I ask you a question?
01:56If we don't pay our bills, will you protect us from Russia?
02:00I said, no, I will not protect you from Russia.
02:02The money came in by the billions.
02:08The summit comes as Joe Biden faces one of the most difficult periods of his presidency.
02:14After a disastrous presidential debate performance, his candidacy and ability to beat Trump are
02:19being questioned even within his own party.
02:22Zelensky says he hopes regardless of who wins the election, U.S. support for Ukraine and
02:27NATO will not change.
02:28But when it comes to Trump, he says he's in the dark about the Republican candidate's
02:32intentions.
02:34I don't know very well him.
02:36You know, I don't know.
02:37I had meetings with him, and we had good meetings when he was the president.
02:42But we didn't went through the war with him.
02:47And only during the war you have to understand, can you count on somebody or not?
02:55At an event that is supposed to show how united the 75-year-old NATO alliance is, questions
03:01over its future and that of Ukraine might have to wait until America votes in November
03:06for an answer.
03:07Dolphin Chun and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.