Trump and Vance attack Zelenskyy in heated Oval Office meetingShare
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02/28/2025 12:58 PM EST
Updated: 02/28/2025 07:16 PM EST
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to Washington optimistic that signing President Donald Trump’s desired minerals deal would stabilize their relationship and keep the U.S. on his side.
Turns out he was walking into an ambush.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance both turned on the embattled wartime leader during a remarkably tense exchange in the Oval Office on Friday, accusing Zelenskyy of failing to express sufficient gratitude for U.S. involvement and overplaying what they said was a weak diplomatic han“You’ve done enough talking. You’re not winning this,” Trump said, raising his voice to Zelenskyy. “You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.”
The stunning humiliation of Zelenskyy started more than 40 minutes into what had been a cordial conversation about the economic agreement the two countries planned to sign and vague assurances from Trump about the U.S. standing with Ukraine if and when its war with Russia ends. But after the remarkable and very public spat, Zelenskyy was turned away from the White House, departing early as the leaders scrubbed a planned press conference and the signing of the framework for a deal to share future profits from Ukraine’s rare minerals.
As soon as the press left the Oval Office, the Americans and Ukrainians split into separate rooms. Trump and Vance debriefed and, satisfied with their exchange and still smarting about what they saw as Zelenskyy’s grandstanding before the press, they agreed to cancel the rest of the visit.
“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post
Later, in an interview with Fox News, the Ukrainian president was asked if his relationship with Trump could be salvaged. “Of course,” Zelenskyy replied.
He would not, however, say he owed the White House an apology for his remarks, telling Fox host Bret Baier only that he regretted the discussion occurred in a public forum.
Zelenskyy repeatedly pleaded for assurances that the U.S. wouldn’t shift it’s support to Russia.
Ukrainians “just want to hear that America is on our side and that America will stay with us — not with the Russians, with us,” he said. “That’s it.”
Trump, who during the campaign said he could quickly and easily end the war, is now facing a more complicated geopolitical reality. With a quick peace agreement seeming increasingly elusive, he continues to exert pressure on Ukraine, reversing America’s stance that defending the country’s sovereignty from Russian attacks was critical for global stability and security.
Russia’s foreign minister this week made clear that the Kremlin is not inclined to come to the negotiating table as it continues to make slow inroads along the war’s current battle lines in eastern Ukraine. But Trump has yet to criticize Putin publicly and instead has adopted the Kremlin’s positions, including opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine and the falsehood that Ukraine is responsible for starting the war. Russia attacked Ukraine three years ago without provocation.
In blaming Zelenskyy, Trump torpedoed this week’s careful diplomacy by the leaders of France and the United Kingdom, who aimed to gently prod the U.S. into retaining at least some of its security backing of Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war. Instead, the Americans’ outburst in the Oval Office struck another direct blow to the transatlantic alliance and a decadeslong foreign policy paradigm that saw Washington closely aligned with European allies based on a shared fealty to democratic principles.
“I see no U.S. interest advanced by this blow-up. I see Putin’s interest advanced by this blow up,” said Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs in the Bush and Obama administrations and now a fellow at the Atlantic Council. “I don’t see a strategy. It’s as if competing factions are slugging it out at Ukraine’s expense.”
