Kamala Harris and her campaign team will hope her balcony appearance with Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a glimpse into a presidential future.
The Democratic Party candidate, with her vice-presidential hat on, was meeting Ukraine’s president at her office in the White House.
US election latest: Harris takes aim at Putin alongside Zelenskyy
The optics certainly gave off a presidential vibe, intentional no doubt.
Mr Zelenskyy was here in Washington to outline his plan for victory over Russia.
But Ms Harris chose to frame the stakes a different way – Ukraine’s fate if Donald Trump wins in November.
“There are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory…” she said.
“These proposals are the same as those of Putin. And let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.”
It was punchy language about her own political opponent and how he would, in her view, shaft Ukraine and reward the Russian president.
Mr Trump has said repeatedly that he would end the Ukraine war in a day by getting Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Putin around a table.
His vice-presidential running mate, JD Vance, gave some detail a few weeks ago on what that would look like.
“I think what this looks like is Trump sits down, he says to the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Europeans: You guys need to figure out what does a peaceful settlement look like,” Mr Vance told The Shawn Ryan Show earlier this month.
“And what it probably looks like is the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine, that becomes like a demilitarized zone,” he added.
Mr Zelenskyy has shown willingness to sit down with the Russians and negotiate. But he wants to do that from a position of strength. Right now, Ukraine is only just holding the line.
Zelenskyy said ‘we have to end this war, we need a just peace.’
Pic: AP
In places like Pokrovsk, the Russians could soon make big gains – watch our international correspondent Alex Rossi’s frontline report for more on that here.
And so Mr Zelenskyy wants the Americans to allow him to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia – to strike the archer and not just take out the arrow.
He argues that if he can do that, then he will gain the upper hand, push Russia back and be in a strong negotiating position.
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Ultimately, this war will end with a negotiation – a settlement where both sides compromise while claiming their own victories.
Ukraine’s future – and its geography – is to a huge extent dependent on what happens here in America in November.