On Friday, February 28th Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump to discuss the signing of the mineral deal. Both parties were very optimistic about the deal with Zelenskyy stating, “I hope that this document will be the first step to real security guarantees for Ukraine. Our people, our children really count on it. And, of course, we count that America will not stop support. Really, for us, it’s very important to support and to continue it. I want to discuss it with details further,” according to ABC News. This deal was intended to be a step forward to further security ties after the relationship between the United States and Ukraine became stained due to the Trump administration’s handling of peace talks with Russia.
This meeting was televised and would be considered one of the most heated live arguments between two presidents. Before the meeting even started it seemed like things were going to get rocky due to the interaction between Trump and Zelenskyy when they first greeted each other. When Zelenskyy got out of his car to shake Trump’s hand, Trump commented on the fact that Zelenskyy was not wearing a suit, stating, “You’re all dressed up today.” This would be the first comment of several that Zelenskyy would receive about his outfit choice during his meeting according to Euro News.
Brian Glenn, a reporter for the conservative cable network Real America’s Voice asked Zelenskyy, “Why don’t you wear a suit? You’re at the highest level in this country’s office and you refuse to wear a suit.” The question did not end there Glenn continued to add “Do you own a suit? A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the dignity of this office.” President Zelenskyy responded simply by “I will wear costume after this war is finished” according to Euro News. The reason behind Zelenskyy’s outfit choice ever since the war started in 2022 is to show support for his country’s war effort.
Trump started the meeting in a simpler way stating “We’ve actually known each other for a long time. We’ve been dealing with each other for a long time and very well there. We had a little negotiation spat, but that worked out great, I think, for both countries,” according to ABC News. Even though two weeks ago he called Zelenskyy a dictator. Zelenskyy urged and stressed the importance of the U.S. taking a strong stance in stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him a “terrorist” and “killer” stating, “I hope that together we can stop him. But for us, it’s very important to save our country, our values, our freedom, and democracy,” according to ABC News.
Zelenskyy said “I think that France and the U.K. already spoke to you, and we know that Europe is ready, but without the United States, they will not be ready to be as strong as we need” when expressing the importance of having the U.S. backing the European security contingencies. Trump didn’t seem to have any concern about what Zelenskyy was expressing, Trump brushed him off by saying “We’ll make a deal. I have to make a deal first, I don’t worry about security right now,” according to ABC News. Just about 12 minutes into the meeting the civilized manners started to disappear and other cracks appeared. A memorable moment when this was happening was when Zelenskyy was expressing gratitude for how much support he had received from Europe stating “They really gave a lot Mr. President.” Trump seemed to not like this, he responded by only saying, “They gave a lot but they gave much less,” according to ABC News, and not expanding on the response. Zelenskyy didn’t care for his response either and firmly said “No,” but still kept the room somewhat peaceful.
When Zelenskyy expressed that he does not believe Putin would just agree to a cease-fire and Trump didn’t seem to agree, he defended his talks with Putin. Going more into this conversation Zelenskyy kept expressing what the Ukrainian people are having to endure. He tried to use the U.S. as an example with Trump saying “First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel it now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless–” according to AP News. This statement made Trump explode saying that Zelenskyy does not know that, he can’t tell him what he will feel, and that he was gambling with WWlll.
Trump continued his rant by saying Zelenskyy has been very disrespectful. This made Vice President JD Vance jump in by asking if Zelenskyy had even said thank you once. Zelenskyy said he has said thank you many times. During this back and forth Trump and Vance had kept cutting off Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy asked if he could answer and Trump told him no, he has done a lot of talking. He continued “Your country is in big trouble,” he added “You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us,” Zelenskyy responded back with “Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong. From the very beginning of the war, we’ve been alone. And we are thankful. I said thanks,” according to AP News.
The part of the meeting that caused it to really explode was when Vance said the world had reached this point because of the Biden administration’s actions, and said it was time for diplomacy. Zelenskyy had challenged Vance on his point, expressing there had been other ceasefire agreements Putin had broken and not just during the Obama administration. During Mr. Trump’s administration, Putin had violated the Minsk ceasefire agreements, which had been signed by both Russia and Ukraine. Zelenskyy also pointed out that he had signed an agreement with Putin over the exchange of prisoners, “but he didn’t do it.” “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about,” Zelenskyy asked Vance according to CBS News. Vance thought that it was disrespectful of Zelenskyy to try and question his case in front of the American media.
The attack on Zelenskyy continued for a while until the Ukrainians left the Oval Office to go to a separate room while U.S. officials stayed in the Oval Office. While they were waiting in this separate room, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them to leave according to CBS News. An official said Zelenskyy was trying to smooth things over after the big office blow-up and wanted a rest but Trump and other officials were offended by Zelenskyy’s behavior. Zelensky said he is still ready to sign a US-Ukraine minerals deal after leaving the White House without it being agreed. Zelenskyy stated in response to BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg that, despite a fractious meeting with Trump, he is still willing to have a “constructive dialogue” with the U.S., adding: “I just want the Ukrainian position to be heard.” “We want our partners to remember who the aggressor is in this war,” he told reporters.
