White House talks break down as Trump accuses Zelenskyy of ‘disrespecting’ US
White House talks between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy over ending the war between Moscow and Kyiv have broken down after the US president said his Ukrainian counterpart had “disrespected” America.
The dramatic and premature conclusion to the summit came after the two leaders clashed even before the start of their formal meeting, as the Ukrainian president’s bid to improve strained ties with Washington spectacularly backfired.
In a post on Truth Social following the meeting, Trump wrote: “I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace.”
“He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” he added.
During an earlier meeting in front of reporters in the Oval Office, Trump told Zelenskyy: “You don’t have the cards right now with us, you start having problems right now. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with world war three.”
Vice-president JD Vance said: “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?”
The Ukrainian leader responded: “Everybody has problems, even you but you have nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.”
Zelenskyy has been seeking a seat at the negotiating table after Trump blindsided Kyiv and other European capitals by launching direct talks with Putin over ending the conflict.
The leaders had planned to use the meeting to sign a minerals deal that would set up a joint US-Ukrainian “investment fund” that would receive 50 per cent of all revenues from the “future monetisation” of natural resources owned by Kyiv.
Fucking hate this shit. Couldn’t watch it. I’m a Ukrainian living in the US.
Brings me some comfort to see many people on here agree that Trump is a fucking jackass.
I would go to some online forum for support, but I’m afraid of encountering some aggressive jackasses, saying something to the extent of “fuck Ukraine. We have our own problems.”
If someone has any words of support or something positive to say, I’m here for it, because this is depressing.
I’m sorry. There’s a lot of us that agree with you and are disgusted by this. This was hard to watch - I’ve never seen a US president act so childish when given the opportunity to oppose an ACTUAL dictator.
Any true American knows that Putin is a threat to the world and democracy. He won’t just stop with Ukraine.
Trump and Vance are cowards in the face of real evil.
I figured that I must not be the only one who thought that Trump’s behavior was disguisting. Thank you for reminding that you feel the same. It’s just that with all these loud dumbasses who think that it’s not their war to fight makes me wonder if people remember how WWII started. I really do hope that most of the world is sane though.
Yes, you’re not alone. It’s unfortunate, but the idiots speak louder than the sane ones. I hope that this being posted everywhere does actually get people thinking in the right kind of way…
Zelenskyy is correct. We will see problems here eventually if these fools don’t step in. It just won’t be until this idiot is out of office.
I really do try to remain calm and remind myself that the idiots tend to be louder. People don’t realize that they’re not isolated and this will effect them too eventually.
These idiots will never know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a very unjust war. They’re just worried about their gas prices.