What was supposed to be a triumphant White House visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to mark the signing of a mineral rights deal between the United States and Ukraine devolved into an Oval Office shouting match that ended with a vulgar, grievance-filled rant from President Donald Trump and taunts about Zelensky’s supposed lack of gratitude from Vice President JD Vance.
Zelensky left the White House less than an hour after the emotional eruption, cutting short talks that were supposed to cement an economic relationship between Washington and Kyiv and create a mechanism to repay the billions in American military aid that has been sent to Ukraine since 2022.
Trump took to his Truth Social site to announce the collapse in talks, writing that he and Zelensky had “a very meaningful meeting in the White House” with “much” learned that “could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure.”
“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump said.
A White House official told The Independent that the minerals deal was not signed.
The conflagration which led to the Ukrainian leader’s abrupt departure — and what could be an equally abrupt end to American support for Ukraine — kicked off on Friday after the American vice president began lecturing Zelensky for what he called a lack of open gratitude towards the United States for the aid his country has received to combat Russia’s invading forces.
Earlier in the day, Zelensky had arrived at the White House and was greeted by Trump outside the West Wing, with the U.S. leader shaking his hand and making a jovial quip about the Ukrainian president’s customary wartime outfit before escorting him to the Oval Office.
As reporters watched, the two men spoke about the mineral deal that Zelensky’s government has been discussing with Trump administration officials for several weeks, with Trump saying it was “an honor” to have Zelensky at the White House — his first visit to Washington since the change of administration — and describing the work to reach a deal as “very hard” while saying it was going “very well.”
“We have something that is a very fair deal, and we look forward to getting in, getting some of the rare earth, but it needs to look at the inside, and it’s a big commitment for the United States, and we appreciate working with you very much, and we will continue to do that,” said Trump. The U.S. president also commended Ukraine’s armed forces as having been “very brave” during the three-year-old war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
But the conversation took a turn after roughly 30 minutes of questions from reporters as the subject turned to whether the agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine would include any security guarantees from the American side.
When Trump was asked by a reporter from Polish radio about concerns that he is “aligned” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump replied that he was “not aligned with anybody” save for “the United States of America, and for the good of the world.”
He also accused Zelensky of harboring “tremendous hatred” for Putin and said that made it harder to “make a deal” to end the war.
It was then that Vance, who had been silently sitting with other Trump administration officials, decided to speak up.
The 40-year-old former Ohio senator began by mocking Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, and blaming him for Putin’s decision to escalate the conflict with Ukraine by invading one year into Biden’s term in 2022.
“For four years the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country … we tried the pathway of Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending that the President of the United States’s words mattered more than the President of the United States’ actions,” Vance said, adding that Trump was “engaging in diplomacy” by speaking with Putin about a peace deal after years of efforts to isolate the Russian dictator by the West.
Zelensky responded by relating the history of the conflict and the multiple peace agreements that Putin has violated.
“I signed with him, the deal I signed with him. Macron and Merkel, we signed ceasefire. Ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him gas contract … but after that, he broke this ceasefire, he killed our people, and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn’t do it,” he said.
Turning to Vance, he said: “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?”
Vance replied: “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.”
He then began lecturing Zelensky about contradicting Trump in front of reporters, telling the Ukrainian leader that it was “disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media” and echoed Russian propaganda talking points about Ukraine’s use of a military draft.
“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” he said.
After Zelensky invited Vance to visit Ukraine and see the state of things on the front lines, Vance reacted dismissively by accusing Zelensky of holding “propaganda tours” for visiting American politicians.
He also falsely accused Zelensky of having campaigned for his and Trump’s Democratic opponents in last year’s election by visiting swing-state Pennsylvania — the location of a munitions plant that was making shells destined for Ukrainian artillery — and harangued the Ukrainian leader by demanding that he “offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”
It was at that point that Trump joined in the argument in full-throated shouting at Zelensky, telling him: “You’re right now not in a very good position.”
“You don’t have the cards right now with us … millions of people think you’re gambling with World War Three. You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country,” he said.
The president continued into what became a vulgar, conspiracy-laden rant filled with denigrating statements about his two Democratic predecessor and about Biden’s son, a lobbyist who once served on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm after Zelensky asked him what would happen if Russia again broke a cease-fire agreement.
“What if a bomb drops on your head right now? They broke it with Biden, because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear that deal that was a phony that was a phony Hunter, Biden, Joe, Biden scam, Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff, it was a Democrat scam, and he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn’t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff he had nothing to do with. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, oh, oh, the laptop from Hell was made by Russia, the 51 agents. The whole thing was a scam, and he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff. All I can say is this, he might have broken deals with Obama and Bush, and he might have broken him with Biden. He did. Maybe, maybe he did. I don’t know what happened, but he didn’t break it with me,” he said.
Trump then added that he’d “empowered” Zelensky to “be a tough guy” and contrasted him with Putin, who he said “wants to make a deal.”
“I don’t know if you can make a deal. The problem is, I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think he’d be a tough guy without the United States and your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out,” he said.
“You don’t have the cards, but once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing,” he added.
