Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Hopes to Meet Donald Trump Next Week

 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (not pictured), amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (not pictured), amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Hopes to Meet Donald Trump Next Week

 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (not pictured), amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (not pictured), amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 20, 2024. (Reuters)

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he hoped to meet Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump next week when he travels to the United States to present Ukraine's "victory plan" in the war against Russia.

Zelenskiy will attend sessions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly and also plans to meet US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in separate meetings on Sept. 26.

The Ukrainian leader said he also hoped to meet Trump.

"We will most likely have a meeting, I think, on September 26-27," Zelenskiy told media late on Friday, without providing further details.

Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 US election.

Zelenskiy said in August he wanted to present his plan to Biden, Harris, and Trump. While Trump and Zelenskiy talked over the phone in July, they have not met in person since Trump's 2017-2021 term.

Zelenskiy described the plan as a blueprint for how to force Russia to end its war diplomatically and said it depended on quick decisions by key allies from October to December this year.

At a critical juncture in the war, Zelenskiy is seeking to strengthen Ukraine with more weapons, and military, economic, and diplomatic support from the United States, Kyiv's key ally. He is expected to push Washington to lift restrictions on long-range missile strikes inside Russia.

Russian forces continue to advance slowly but steadily in eastern Ukraine despite Kyiv's troops launching a surprise incursion last month into Russia's Kursk region. Zelenskiy has repeatedly said there is no alternative for a "just peace" and ruled out freezing the war, saying it would simply postpone Russian aggression.



At Least 7 Dead in Georgia Dock Collapse on US Atlantic Coast

FILE - The sun rises over Sapelo Island, Ga., a Gullah-Geechee community, on June 10, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
FILE - The sun rises over Sapelo Island, Ga., a Gullah-Geechee community, on June 10, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
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At Least 7 Dead in Georgia Dock Collapse on US Atlantic Coast

FILE - The sun rises over Sapelo Island, Ga., a Gullah-Geechee community, on June 10, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
FILE - The sun rises over Sapelo Island, Ga., a Gullah-Geechee community, on June 10, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

At least seven people were killed after part of a boat dock collapsed, sending at least 20 into the Atlantic waters off the coast of the US state of Georgia.
US Coast Guard ships were searching on Saturday night for missing people.
The accident, which also caused multiple injuries, happened during a celebration of Sapelo Island's tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants, authorities said.
A gangway crowded with people waiting for a ferryboat collapsed late on Saturday afternoon on the Georgia barrier island about 60 miles (100 km) south of Savannah, said Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which runs the ferry.
"We and multiple agencies are searching for survivors," Jones said.

President Joe Biden said federal officials were ready to provide any assistance needed.

“What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation,” Biden said in a statement. “Jill and I mourn those who lost their lives, and we pray for the injured and anyone still missing. We are also grateful to the first responders at the scene.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, in the state capital Atlanta for campaign events, also issued a statement, saying the Biden administration was in close touch with state and local officials and had offered any federal support needed.
"Tonight, Doug and I are praying for all those who were killed or injured in the collapse of the ferry dock walkway on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, as well as their family members and loved ones," Harris said, referring to her husband, Doug Emhoff.
"Even in the face of this heartbreak, we will continue to celebrate and honor the history, culture, and resilience of the Gullah-Geechee community," she added.
Coast Guard helicopters and boats equipped with sonar immediately began search-and-rescue operations, officials said. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
Sapelo Island is only reachable by boat, and the state-run ferry takes about 20 minutes to reach its shores.
People were marking Cultural Day, an annual festival celebrating the island's historic Black community, one of several surviving island communities from Georgia to North Carolina.