Furious Trump-Zelensky row in White House leaves Ukrainian peace talks and minerals deal in tatters
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Talks between Ukraine and the US ended in chaos today after a White House meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump descended into furious shouting match.
The much-anticipated encounter between the Ukrainian president and US president started promisingly but within minutes had fallen apart in front of the world’s media.
Mr Zelensky later left the White House and a planned press conference between the two leaders was cancelled.
Mr Trump and his deputy JD Vance had accused the Ukrainian leader of gambling with World War Three and accused him of being “disrespectful” and “ungrateful”.
The US president claimed Mr Zelensky would have no power without him and said he could either make a deal or “fight it out”.
The much-vaunted critical minerals deal between Ukraine and the US now looks to be in tatters as Mr Zelensky looked set to leave the discussions early. A press conference between him and President Trump was cancelled.
The talks “ended in an outright shouting match” after Mr Trump and Mr Vance lashed out. One journalist present in the room said the two sides were “yelling at each other in the Oval Office is something I’ve never witnessed in eight years at the White House”.
The US president told his Ukrainian counterpart, who had flown to Washington to try to win security guarantees: “You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
Mr Zelensky had arrived at the White House expecting to sign a deal that would grant the US access to the country’s rare earth materials as the Ukrainian leader seeks US backing in trying to bring the war with Russia to a close.
The meeting started off courteously, but descended into open acrimony as both Americans demanded Mr Zelensky show gratitude.
Mr Vance told him: “Mr President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
The Ukrainian president tried to object, prompting Mr Trump to raise his voice and say: “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.”
The US president repeatedly insisted: “You’re not in good position right now.”
In a later post on Truth Social, Mr Trump repeated his claim that Mr Zelensky was “disrespectful”.
“I have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Mr Trump wrote. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE.”
“He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” he added.
In the Oval Office meeting watched by the world’s media, both Americans talked over Mr Zelensky. Mr Vance said: “Have you said thank you once? You went to Pennsylvania to campaign for the opposition.”
As the Ukrainian tried to respond, Mr Trump butted in, saying: “You’re running low on soldiers… then you’re telling us you don’t want a ceasefire.”
At the start of the talks, Mr Trump said the US had held “very good” discussions with Russia, and that they were “fairly close” to a ceasefire agreement.
But he said he did not ally himself more with Ukraine than Russia. Asked whether he positioned himself in the middle or on Ukraine’s side, Mr Trump said: “I’m in the middle. I want to solve this thing. I’m for both. I want to get it solved.”
He said the US would continue sending arms to Ukraine but that Mr Zelensky would “certainly” need to make compromises in efforts to end the war.
But in the bitter exchanges, JD Vance told Mr Zelensky: “Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems, you should be thanking the president.
“Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people in your military, and 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?”
Breaking news: more follows
