Donald Trump admitted that his relationship with Volodymyr Zelenskyy had grown “slightly tested” before the Ukrainian President’s visit to the White House this week.
But that wild stress in the bond between the two men exploded on Friday in a full clash at the Oval Office, reflecting the bad blood Trump has supported Zelenskyy for nearly six years.
The extraordinary diplomatic merger in Washington will ask new questions about Trump’s ability to mediate peace of peace with Russia – and will cause new doubts about America’s commitment to guarantee security for its European allies.
But it has also exposed a level of personal hostility dating back to their initial interactions during the first term of the US president, and has made Washington seeking new elections in Ukraine that could lead to Zelenskyy to collapse.
Trump’s failure for the Ukrainian President has his roots in their first phone call in 2019, when he unsuccessfully pushed Zelenskyy to dig dirt in Joe Biden’s son’s business relationship.
Trump called the conversation “perfect”, but she formed the basis of his first blame from the House of Representatives. After Russia’s full occupation in Ukraine in 2022, with Biden in the White House, Trump emerged as a key critic of Kyiv from the side. JD Vance, who is now vice -president, skeptically of helping Ukraine a leitmotif of his political rise, initially as an Ohio senator.
On Friday at the Oval office, both Trump and Vance subjected Zelenskyy to a series of fraud, public reprimand and then forced him to leave the White House before signing a deal to deliver part of Ukraine’s natural resources that were essential to pave the way for the continued US support between Russia’s talks with Russia.
Zelenskyy had tried to unite things with Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign as it seemed increasingly likely that he would make a return to the White House, but some of his efforts turned into attack.
On a visit last year, Zelenskyy visited a gun factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, accompanied only by Democrats during the tournament of a swinging key state. This caused a protest by Mike Johnson, the President of the Republican Chamber, who called it “electoral interference” at the time, with dissatisfaction with the visit that found its way to the White House on Friday.
“You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer a few words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president trying to save your country,” Vance withdrew to Zelenskyy on an exchange at the Oval office.
Trump gathered, exploding Ukrainians for lack of gratitude. “I gave you javelins to draw all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets.. You have to be more grateful.”
The exchange took place with rolling television cameras and senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sitting and proving saliva.
Vance’s intervention was particularly striking-it is very unusual for a vice president to be thrown into a discussion so strongly with a foreign leader before the president.
Jeffrey Engel, a presidential historian at Southern Methodist University, said the fact that Trump “sat in silence” while Vance argued with Zelenskyy suggests that he approved the vice president who was the “attack dog” in the conversation. “It seems to be quite orchestrated,” Engel added.
White House officials and Trump’s allies insist that Zelenskyy caused spat by “disrespecting” the president during the discussion.
“I talked to Zelenskyy this morning.. President Trump was in a very good mood last night,” Lindsey Graham, Senator of South Carolina, told reporters after a Friday meeting.
“Am I embarrassed for Trump? I’ve never been proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing for our country, ”Graham added.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had led negotiations in an American-Ukraine mineral agreement that remained signed, told Bloomberg TV: “I was shocked, I was shocked that President Zelenskyy would come to Oval office and behave like this.”
Meanwhile, Dan Scavino, a senior administration official, mocks Zelenskyy openly by posting the Trump lunch menu that the Ukrainian delegation did not participate, saying the White House staff would eat it in the country.
Scrap at the Oval office has sparked outrage among many US allies in Europe. It will be particularly worrying about Emmanuel Macron, French President and Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who both visited Trump this week in an effort to take it to positions that would be more favorable to Kyiv – including US security guarantees for the country that Trump has given up unnecessary.
The US Democrats exploded what they saw as a new in the foreign policy of denial of Trump, a second -term, accusing his administration to enrich the direction towards Moscow and making a partner in a way that would make traditional conservatives tremble.
“Former President Ronald Reagan and the late Senator John McCain are crossing their graves,” said Dick Durb, a Democratic Senator of Illinois.
