A potential deal between the United States and Ukraine abruptly collapsed after the brash and tough-talking President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky engaged in a heated shouting match at the Oval Office on Friday.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump hit back at Zelensky, as a meeting intended to calm tensions over the U.S.’s sudden diplomatic outreach to Russia only hit a brick wall.
“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country,” Trump added, visibly frustrated.
Zelensky had traveled to Washington to finalize an agreement on Ukraine’s mineral resources and discuss a potential peace settlement with Russia despite Trump recently labeling him a “dictator”, the Associated France Press reported.
The visit followed a flurry of diplomatic efforts, with leaders from France and Britain urging Trump to maintain U.S. support for Kyiv.
Tensions boiled over after Vice President JD Vance asserted that “diplomacy” was essential to end the war.
Immediately, Zelensky challenged the statement, asking, “What kind of diplomacy?” Vance fired back, accusing the Ukrainian leader of being “disrespectful” in the president’s office.
Trump quickly sided with his vice president, and the discussion nosedived into a bitter exchange over whether the U.S. had failed Ukraine after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“You’re not acting at all thankful,” Trump told Zelensky.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” he added. “It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.”
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Zelensky, in contrast, kept a steadier tone, accusing Trump and his team of “speaking loudly.”
The clash followed Trump’s recent controversial decision to engage in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the conflict, without involving Ukraine in the initial discussions.
Mr. Trump later revealed he had spoken to Putin “numerous occasions” in the weeks leading up to the White House meeting.
Trump has made continued U.S. support for Ukraine contingent on securing preferential access to the country’s valuable rare-earth minerals, even while withholding any firm commitment to provide Kyiv with long-term security guarantees as part of a ceasefire arrangement with Russia.
“We’ll be dig, dig, digging” for Ukraine’s resources, Trump declared on Thursday, invoking rhetoric reminiscent of his “drill, baby, drill” campaign slogan.
Zelensky, meanwhile, said U.S. and Ukrainian officials would work out the details of any security guarantees and financial commitments during his visit.
However, Trump’s repeated praise for Putin and his insistence that he trusts the Russian leader to “keep his word” on any ceasefire have alarmed U.S. allies. Both Britain and France have offered to send peacekeepers if a deal is reached but insist that American intelligence and air power are necessary as a “backstop.”
Although Trump and Putin have discussed the possibility of an in-person summit, no date has been set.
Meanwhile, Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues, with Kyiv reporting fresh cross-border attacks from Russian forces in the Kursk region on Friday.
