Biden and Zelensky lay out new US support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States and leaders like President Joe Biden have supported Ukraine in its war against Russia because of their countries’ shared values — something he says he thinks will continue as the US heads into a presidential election this fall.

“They work based on the voice of their people and it is impossible without people,” Zelensky, who was speaking Ukrainian, said of US leaders.

“I am sure that this nation chooses leaders and presidents … and it seems to me that no matter whom the nation chooses, first and foremost, it seems to me that everything depends on the unity within this or that state — and if the people are with us, any leader will be with us in this struggle for freedom,” he added, according to a realtime translator.

Zelensky and Biden are giving remarks after signing a security agreement between their two countries on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy on Thursday.

The agreement is an “executive agreement,” making it less formal than a treaty and not necessarily binding for any future presidents.

Former President Donald Trump, who is the GOP frontrunner, previously pledged to end the war in Ukraine, though he’s offered no details on how he would do so. “Shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” Trump said at a New Hampshire campaign event last year, adding in another speech that it would take him “no longer than one day” to settle the war if elected.