Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with US President Donald Trump ended in disaster, after the two leaders traded verbal blows before the world’s media at the White House over the war with Russia.
The visit by Mr Zelensky was designed to help Ukraine convince the United States not to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Instead, the Ukrainian leader disagreed sharply with Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance over the conflict, underlining how the change of administration in Washington has undermined Kyiv’s attempts to maintain Western support for its war effort.
Watch: Zelensky leaves White House early after clash with Donald Trump
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Mr Vance stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, while Mr Zelensky countered that Mr Putin could not be trusted in any negotiations.
Mr Trump quickly took to Truth Social to accuse Mr Zelensky of disrespecting the United States.
“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved,” he wrote, using an alternative spelling of the leader’s name. “He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
Mr Zelensky left the White House early following the confrontation, without signing a much-vaunted deal between Ukraine and the United States over the joint development of natural resources.
US media reported that Mr Zelensky was told to leave by senior Trump officials.
The clash also undermines recent efforts by European leaders to convince Mr Trump to provide security guarantees for Ukraine even if he has refused to deploy US soldiers on Ukrainian soil.
Such guarantees are seen as crucial to deter Russia from future aggression.
“People are dying, you’re running low on soldiers,” Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky as they engaged in a remarkably blunt argument before reporters in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump threatened to withdraw US support from Ukraine.
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‘Be strong, be fearless’ von der Leyen tells Zelensky
“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,” Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky.
“You don’t have the cards. 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. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing.”
Mr Zelensky openly challenged Mr Trump over his softer approach toward Mr Putin, urging him to “make no compromises with a killer.”
Mr Trump stressed that Mr Putin wants to make a deal.
“You are gambling with World War Three,” Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky at one point, urging him to be more thankful.
“I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out, but you don’t have the cards.”
Mr Vance interjected that it was disrespectful of Mr Zelensky to come to the Oval Office to litigate his position, a point Mr Trump agreed with.
“You didn’t say thank you,” Mr Vance said. Mr Zelensky, raising his voice, responded: “I said a lot of times thank you to American people.”
Speaking to reporters while departing the White House for his Florida estate, Donald Trump said that Mr Zelensky “overplayed his hand”.
“I want a ceasefire now,” the US President said, adding that he wanted fighting in Ukraine to end immediately. Mr Trump also accused Mr Zelensky of opposing a truce.
Mr Zelensky, who gained billions of dollars’ worth of US weaponry and moral support from the Biden administration for its fight against Russia, is facing a sharply different attitude from the current president.
Mr Trump wants to quickly wind down the three-year war, improve ties with Russia and recoup money spent to support Ukraine.
“I hope I’m going to be remembered as a peacemaker,” Mr Trump said before.
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Earlier, Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky that his soldiers have been unbelievably brave and that the United States wants to see an end to the fighting and the money put to “different kinds of use like rebuilding.”
Mr Trump has adopted a much less committed stance toward European security, a change in tone that has sent shockwaves across Europe and stoked fears in Kyiv and among its allies that it could be forced into a peace deal that favours Russia.
No security guarantees in deal
The agreement negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include explicit American security guarantees for Ukraine, a disappointment for Kyiv. Mr Trump says the presence of Americans in business would serve as a form of guarantee.
How much the deal would be worth to the United States is not spelled out. Mr Trump has said he expects to gain hundreds of billions of dollars. Mr Zelensky has said he would not sign an agreement that would put his country in debt for generations.
Ukraine would contribute 50% of “all revenues earned from the future monetisation of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets” to a reconstruction fund jointly owned and managed by the United States and Ukraine.
The agreement does not specify how the funds would be spent, or identify specific assets it covers, though it says they would include deposits of minerals, oil and natural gas as well as infrastructure such as gas terminals and ports.
The Washington talks were previously seen as a diplomatic boost for Mr Zelensky, who has repeatedly spoken of the importance of meeting Mr Trump in person before the US president holds talks with Mr Putin.
Kyiv had hoped the agreement would spur Mr Trump to back Ukraine’s war effort, and potentially even win support from Republicans in Congress for a new round of aid.
Ukraine has rapidly expanded its defence industry production but remains heavily reliant on foreign military assistance, while also struggling to replenish manpower as it battles a much larger foe.
While Ukraine repelled Russia’s invasion from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory in 2022, Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukraine and has been slowly taking ground since a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023. Kyiv’s troops hold a chunk of land in Russia’s western Kursk region after a 2024 incursion.
Mr Trump has engaged in a long-distance feud with Mr Zelensky in recent weeks, criticising his handling of the war, calling him a “dictator” and urging him to agree to the minerals deal.
Ukraine truce ‘can’t be peace that rewards aggressor’, says Starmer
