US President Donald Trump berated his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during a heated argument in the Oval Office, an extraordinarily fractious display that only underscored the deeply uncertain future of American assistance to Kyiv.
The CN N reported, never before has an American president verbally attacked his visitor like Trump did Zelensky, leading to an almost real-time breakdown in relations between Washington and Kyiv. Trump at one point threatened to give up on Ukraine entirely.
Castigating Zelensky for not demonstrating enough gratitude for American support, Trump and Vice President JD Vance raised their voices, accusing the besieged leader of standing in the way of a peace agreement with Russia. Later, he was essentially kicked out of the White House and departed with a grim look on his face.
“You’re right now, not really in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position,” Trump told the Ukrainian president. “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”
“I’m not playing cards,” Zelensky said.
Raising his voice, after more back-and-forth, Trump said, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III.”
At one point, Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” toward his American hosts. “You’re not acting all that thankful,” Trump added. “Have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked Zelensky.
Afterward, Trump huddled with his key advisers inside the Oval Office to assess the situation, including Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
That was when Trump ultimately decided Zelensky was “not in a place to negotiate.” He directed Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz to deliver the message: it was time for Zelensky to leave.
Zelensky left shortly thereafter. He has canceled his planned afternoon speech at the Hudson Institute, an official with the think tank announced to attendees.
A scheduled joint press conference was scrapped and Zelensky departed the White House in his black SUV without signing a planned agreement on providing US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. Trump posted online that his counterpart was not welcome back until he was “ready for peace.”
The Trump administration moved quickly on Friday to try to turn the diplomatic uproar into a sign of strength, dispatching allies like South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham to the cameras outside the West Wing to call on Zelensky to apologize.
The White House issued a statement saying: “President Trump and VP Vance are standing up for Americans.”
Ahead of his arrival, Trump had already voiced open hostility toward Zelensky, whom he termed a dictator. Yet he seemed to moderate his tone a day earlier, declining to repeat the criticism.
But the tense 10-minute exchange in the Oval Office went well beyond any of the usual diplomatic rifts, allowing the gulf between the men to play out publicly in front of television cameras. It was about as angry as Trump has ever allowed himself to be seen in public.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” the US president said, adding later: “If we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it will be pretty.”
Vance, who has often sat silently in Oval Office meetings during the opening weeks of his vice presidency, sparked tension with the visiting Ukrainian leader. Before joining Trump on the ticket last year, the freshman Ohio senator was among the loudest GOP critics of assistance to Ukraine – skepticism that he has carried into the White House.
The fiery exchanges Friday served as a stark example of the dramatic whiplash in American foreign policy since Trump and Vance assumed office last month.
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