Trump and Zelenskyy raise voices in heated clash during Oval Office meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, United States, February 28, 2025. (AFP Photo)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump openly clashed during a meeting at the White House on Friday, where they were scheduled to sign a deal on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources and discuss a peace deal with Russia.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” a furious Trump told Zelenskyy, as a meeting that was meant to ease tensions over the sudden US outreach to Russia ended up inflaming them.
Gambling with World War Three
“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.
Zelenskyy was at the White House to sign a deal on sharing Ukraine’s mineral riches and discuss a peace deal with Russia, despite the U.S. president recently branding his Ukrainian counterpart a dictator.
The meeting came after a week-long diplomatic dance that has also seen the leaders of France and Britain come to the White House to persuade Trump not to abandon Kyiv.
But tempers frayed after Vice President JD Vance said that “diplomacy” was needed to end the war. Zelensky asked “what kind of diplomacy” and Vance then accused him of being “disrespectful” in the president’s office.
Trump then backed up his vice president as the leaders argued about whether the US had failed to stop Putin after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the situation became increasingly tense.
“You’re not acting at all thankful. It’s not a nice thing,” President Trump said during the tense exchange.
“It’s going to be very hard to do business like this,” he added, signaling the friction between the two leaders.
“It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy fought his corner with Trump in a calmer voice, accusing them of “speaking loudly.”
Trump had alarmed U.S. allies and upended Washington’s longstanding Ukraine policy two weeks ago when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and started talks on ending the three-year-old war — without Kyiv’s involvement.
‘Come back’ later
Following the heated clash, Trump cut short a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, saying the Ukrainian leader is “not ready” for peace with Russia.
Zelenskyy had been scheduled for a full White House visit to sign a U.S.-Ukrainian agreement for joint exploitation of Ukraine’s mineral resources as part of a post-war recovery in a U.S.-brokered peace deal.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to criticize Zelenskyy, saying he “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office.”
Zelenskyy is “not ready for Peace,” Trump wrote. “He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
In a report from Fox News, U.S. President Trump reportedly asked Zelenskyy to leave the White House, with officials saying Ukrainians must return “when ready” for peace.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy thanked Trump, Congress, and the American people for their support after the heated exchange, stating, “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”
