Harris says would not meet Putin if Ukraine wasn’t represented

US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks on the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2024. Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — Democratic White House hopeful Kamala Harris said in an interview broadcast Monday that if elected president she would not meet with Vladimir Putin for peace talks if Ukraine was not also represented.

“Not bilaterally without Ukraine, no. Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine,” the US vice president told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program when asked if she would meet one-on-one with the Russian leader to negotiate an end to the war.

President Joe Biden’s administration has previously rejected any talks with Putin.

READ: Harris slams Trump’s Ukraine ‘surrender’ policy

Harris also reiterated her criticisms of Republican rival Donald Trump’s policies on Ukraine, describing them as a “surrender” to the invasion Moscow launched in February 2022.

Trump has previously been critical of Washington’s massive military and financial aid for Ukraine and insisted that he could quickly reach a peace deal with Putin.

“Donald Trump, if he were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. He talks about, ‘Oh, he can end it on day one.’ You know what that is? It’s about surrender,” she said.

READ: Zelensky to meet Biden and Harris, plans to see Trump

Kyiv fears such a deal would involve ceding to Russia the territory in eastern Ukraine that it has captured since the invasion.

Harris meanwhile said she would deal with Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO military alliance “if and when it arrives at that point.”