Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump, Vance goes very badly

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A White House meeting that was intended to kick off negotiations on a deal over Ukraine’s rare earth minerals devolved Friday afternoon into a remarkable confrontation, with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and telling him he wasn’t grateful enough to the United States.

"He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website after the meeting ended. "He can come back when he is ready for Peace."

The Oval Office shouting match has for now shattered hopes for the minerals deal, which Trump and his allies had presented as an important step forward for Ukraine on the road to peace with Russia more than three years after the war began.

A White House official told NBC News that Trump and other U.S. officials felt disrespected and asked Zelenskyy to leave the White House, saying that he was not welcome back on Friday. Zelenskyy abruptly departed the White House and a planned joint press conference between the two leaders was called off.

After departing the White House, Zelenskyy posted on X, “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

The skirmish in the Oval Office Friday began after Vance said that the path to peace between Russia and Ukraine is diplomacy. Zelenskyy disagreed, noting that Russia had broken agreements with his government in the past.

"He killed our people, and he didn't exchange prisoners," Zelenskyy said about Russian President Vladimir Putin. "What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?" Zelenskyy said.

I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country," Vance shot back, adding, "I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media right now."

Vance has long opposed U.S. aid to Ukraine. As a senator, he voted against a $95 billion foreign aid package that included substantial funding for Ukraine. As a Senate candidate, Vance said in a 2022 podcast, “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”

When Vance told Zelenskyy on Friday that Ukraine has "manpower problems" in recruiting troops, Zelenskyy challenged Vance, noting he had never even been to his country.

"I've actually watched and seen the stories," Vance responded. "And I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President."

"Do you think that it's respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?" he added.

Zelenskyy said that everyone has "problems" during the war and suggested that the U.S. doesn't feel the effects of the war because of the "nice ocean" between the two countries. He said the U.S. may not feel the effects now, but added, "You will feel it in the future."

"Don't tell us what we're going to feel because you're in no position to dictate that," Trump said, raising his voice and pointing his finger at Zelenskyy. "You're not in a good position."

“You’re gambling with World War III," Trump said. "And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country — this country.”

"I've empowered you to be a tough guy," Trump said. "And I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave, but you're either going to make a deal or we're out, and if we're out, you'll fight it out."

Trump and Vance repeatedly suggested that Zelenskyy was not thankful enough to the United States for its assistance.

"You're not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing," Trump said at one point.

"Have you said thank you once, this entire meeting?" Vance also asked.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly thanked the United States for its help. In Dec. 2022, he spoke before both chambers of Congress and his first words were: "Thank you so much. Thank you so much for that. Thank you. It’s too much for me. All this for our great people. Thank you so much. Dear Americans, in all states, cities and communities, all those who value freedom and justice, who cherish it as strongly as we Ukrainians in our cities, in each and every family, I hope my words of respect and gratitude resonate in each American heart."

Republican allies of the president largely applauded Trump after the meeting. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an outspoken critic of Putin who has supported U.S. aid to Ukraine, called the meeting a “complete, utter disaster,” and said, “I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again.”

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Graham — who attended a bipartisan group of senators’ meeting with Zelenskyy earlier Friday — said the Ukrainian leader "either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change."

Meanwhile, Trump and Vance’s handling of the meeting stunned Democrats, who said that they were kowtowing to Putin.

“What we saw in the Oval Office today was beyond disgraceful. Trump and Vance berating Zelenskyy — putting on a show of lies and misinformation that would make Putin blush — is an embarrassment for America and a betrayal of our allies. They’re popping champagne in the Kremlin,” wrote Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who was also part of the meeting with Zelenskyy Friday morning.

Playing the devil's advocate, how long can Zelensky drag a protracted war? probably forever. Russians send in an endless supply of conscripts and Zelensky stokes nationalist sentiment in the Ukrainian populace. Another decade of this and Europe's economy will be circling the drain over the obstinance of Zelensky to negotiate.

With that in mind I suspect all European leaders secretly want Zelensky to go to the negotiating table and stabilise things. I think Putin also wants this. A treaty and ceasefire is what everyone wants except Zelensky.

He should at least come to a compromise.

If HAMAS can agree to a ceasefire not sure why its so hard for Zelensky?

A compromise means ceasefire.

European leaders threw their support behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a raised-voice spat on Friday with Donald Trump sent shockwaves across the world, casting doubts over efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

In response, European Union chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa assured Zelensky that he was “never alone.”

“Be strong, be brave, be fearless,” wrote the European commission and council presidents in a joint statement on social media, telling Zelensky: “We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.”

The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas questioned the United States leadership of the transatlantic alliance between European powers and Washington.

“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” she wrote on social media.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Russia was the “aggressor” in the Ukraine war.

“There is an aggressor which is Russia. There is an aggressed people which is Ukraine,” Macron told journalists, adding: “We were all right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago and to continue to do so.”

He later went further to say that “if anyone is playing at World War III, it’s Vladimir Putin,” referring to Trump’s accusations against Zelensky.

Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz assured his support to Zelensky in a posting on X.

“We must never confuse the aggressor and the victim in this terrible war,” Merz said. The outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz also voiced support for Ukraine, as did Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who added that Kyiv’s “quest for peace & security is ours.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of the closest partners of both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanked Trump for standing “bravely for peace.”

“Strong men make peace, weak men make war,” Orban wrote in a post on X.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for the United States, Europe and their allies to gather over the Ukraine war “without delay.”

“A summit without delay is needed… to talk frankly about how we intend to tackle today’s major challenges, starting with Ukraine, which together we have defended in recent years,” she said.

Staunch Kyiv ally Poland moved to reassure Ukrainians after the dispute.

“Dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X in a post addressed to Zelensky.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood with most European leaders to echo his support for Ukraine ahead of hosting Zelensky this weekend.

Starmer “is doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said, adding he spoke to both leaders in the aftermath of the White House meeting.

Other Ukrainian allies rallied around the country, with Canada saying Kyiv was not only fighting for its freedom but also “ours.”

Denmark described its “pride” in supporting Ukraine while Sweden referred to Ukrainians as “friends.”

US Democrats: Trump ‘doing Putin’s work’
Senate Democrats accused Trump and his Vice President JD Vance of siding with Putin.

“Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work,” Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer posted on social media.

GOP Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska bemoaned the meeting as “a bad day for America’s foreign policy.”

“Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom,” Bacon in an emailed statement.

Members of Trump’s cabinet and other Republican lawmakers however cheered on the president.

Russia: ‘cocaine clown’ Zelensky
Russia also cheered on Trump’s berating of Zelensky.

“For the first time, Trump told the truth to the cocaine clown’s face,” said former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, referring to Zelensky.

Kirill Dmitriev, one of Moscow’s negotiators in the first high-level talks between Russian and US officials since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine, branded the spat between the two leaders as “historic.”