What was supposed to be a triumphant White House visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to mark the signing of a mineral rights deal between the United States and Ukraine devolved into an Oval Office shouting match between Zelensky, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Zelensky left the White House less than an hour after the emotional eruption, cutting short talks that were supposed to cement an economic relationship between Washington and Kyiv and create a mechanism to repay the billions in American military aid that has been sent to Ukraine since 2022.
Trump took to his Truth Social site to announce the collapse in talks, writing that he and Zelensky had “a very meaningful meeting in the White House” with “much” learned that “could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure.”
“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and 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. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump said.
The conflagration kicked off on Friday after the American vice president began lecturing Zelensky for what he called a lack of open gratitude towards the United States for the aid his country has received to combat Russia’s invading forces.
Earlier in the day, Zelensky had arrived at the White House and was greeted by Trump outside the West Wing, with the U.S. leader shaking his hand and making a jovial quip about the Ukrainian president’s customary wartime outfit before escorting him to the Oval Office.
As reporters watched, the two men spoke about the mineral deal that Zelensky’s government has been discussing with Trump administration officials for several weeks, with Trump saying it was “an honor” to have Zelensky at the White House — his first visit to Washington since the change of administration — and describing the work to reach a deal as “very hard” while saying it was going “very well.”
“We have something that is a very fair deal, and we look forward to getting in, getting some of the rare earth, but it needs to look at the inside, and it’s a big commitment for the United States, and we appreciate working with you very much, and we will continue to do that,” said Trump, who also commended Ukraine’s armed forces as having been “very brave” during the three-year-old war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
But the conversation took a turn after roughly 30 minutes of questions from reporters as the subject turned to whether the agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine would include any security guarantees from the American side.
When Trump was asked by a reporter from Polish radio about concerns that he is “aligned” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump replied that he was “not aligned with anybody” save for “the United States of America, and for the good of the world.”
He also accused Zelensky of harboring “tremendous hatred” for Putin and said that made it harder to “make a deal” to end the war.
It was then that Vance, who had been silently sitting with other Trump administration officials, decided to speak up.
The 40-year-old former Ohio senator began by mocking Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, and blaming him for Putin’s decision to escalate the conflict with Ukraine by invading one year into Biden’s term in 2022.
“For four years the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country … we tried the pathway of Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending that the President of the United States’s words mattered more than the President of the United States’ actions,” Vance said, adding that Trump was “engaging in diplomacy” by speaking with Putin about a peace deal after years of efforts to isolate the Russian dictator by the West.
Zelensky responded by relating the history of the conflict and the multiple peace agreements that Putin has violated.
“I signed with him, the deal I signed with him. Macron and Merkel, we signed ceasefire. Ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him gas contract … but after that, he broke this ceasefire, he killed our people, and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn’t do it,” he said.
Turning to Vance, he said: “What kind of diplomacy, JD you are speaking about?”
Vance replied: “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.”
He then began lecturing Zelensky about contradicting Trump in front of reporters, telling the Ukrainian leader that “disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media” and echoed Russian propaganda talking points about Ukraine’s use of a military draft.
“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” he said.
After Zelensky invited Vance to visit Ukraine and see the state of things on the front lines, Vance reacted dismissively by accusing Zelensky of holding “propaganda tours” for visiting American politicians.
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