A remarkable shouting match broke out in the Oval Office on Friday between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, an extraordinarily fractious display that only underscored the deeply uncertain future of American assistance to Kyiv.
Castigating Zelensky for not demonstrating enough gratitude for American support, Trump and his Vice President JD Vance raised their voices, accusing the besieged leader of standing in the way of a peace agreement with Russia as the full-scale invasion has surpassed its third year.
What was said: “You’re right now, not really in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position,” Trump said. “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”
“I’m not playing cards,” Zelensky said.
At one moment, Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” toward his American hosts.
“You’re not acting all that thankful,” Trump added.
“Have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked Zelensky.
After the meeting: Following the exchange, the two leaders went into separate rooms and Trump ordered the Ukrainians be told to leave, a White House official said. The Ukrainians protested and wanted to continue the talks but they were told no, a White House official said. A scheduled joint press conference was scrapped and Zelensky departed in his black SUV without signing a planned agreement on providing US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
Trump and Zelensky’s reactions: Trump posted online that his counterpart was not welcome back until he was “ready for peace.” Zelensky posted on X, “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people.”
Ukraine’s defense ministry also reacted on Telegram: “We have our own things to do. Glory to Ukraine.”
Russian reaction: Kirill Dmitriev, a special envoy to Russian President Vladimir Putin, reacted to a video of the exchange on X with one word: “historic.” The headline from Russia state news agency TASS said Zelensky “interrupted, argued and was rude to the press.” A headline by another Russian state media outlet, RIA Novosti, read: “Zelensky’s Hysteria in the White House Shocks the Rada,” referring to the Ukrainian parliament.