{"id":27484,"date":"2025-03-01T02:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T02:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=27484"},"modified":"2025-03-01T02:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T02:10:00","slug":"ukraine-gambling-with-world-war-three-trump-tells-zelensky-in-fiery-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2025\/03\/ukraine-gambling-with-world-war-three-trump-tells-zelensky-in-fiery-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine \u2018gambling with world war three\u2019, Trump tells Zelensky in fiery meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONITOING (SW) – US military support for Ukraine hangs in the balance and talks over a minerals deal have collapsed following a disastrous White House summit in which Donald Trump warned Volodymyr Zelensky that he was \u201cgambling with world war three\u201d and told the Ukrainian president to come back \u201cwhen he is ready for peace\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zelensky left the White House early, and a press conference to announce the minerals deal was cancelled, after Trump gave Zelensky a dressing-down that followed an ambush led by Vice-President JD Vance to shatter the fragile relationship between the two leaders.<\/p>\n

The US president received the Ukrainian president on Friday to discuss a controversial mineral resources deal that Trump has said is the first step towards a ceasefire agreement he is seeking to broker between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But the meeting on Friday degenerated after Zelensky suggested that Vance, a skeptic of US support for Ukraine, should come to the country to see the destruction from the invasion and that Russia was responsible for the continued fighting.<\/p>\n

The meeting had been due to continue behind closed doors, but was cut short after the open display of antagonism in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

Soon afterwards, Trump released a statement in which he suggested that the two had not signed the minerals agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the public part of the meeting, Trump and Vance took turns to berate Zelensky, with Vance accusing him of carrying out \u201cpublicity tours\u201d and Trump telling him: \u201cYou\u2019re not really in a good position right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point Vance demanded: \u201cHave you said thank you once?\u201d<\/p>\n

Picking up the theme, Trump told Zelensky: \u201cDo you think that it\u2019s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump then delivered Zelensky an ultimatum, telling him that Ukraine must either \u201cmake a deal or we are out\u201d \u2013 suggesting the US could walk away from negotiations and cut off support to Kyiv more than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell us what we\u2019re going to feel. We\u2019re trying to solve a problem,\u201d Trump continued. \u201cYou\u2019re in no position to dictate what we\u2019re going to feel. We\u2019re going to feel very good \u2026 You don\u2019t have the cards right now with us, you\u2019ll start having problems right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also told Zelensky that \u201cPutin went through a hell of a lot with me\u201d over the impeachment scandal during his first term in office. \u201cHe wants to make a deal,\u201d said Trump. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you can make a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point in the exchange, the Ukrainian ambassador to Washington appeared to be holding her head in her hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is, I\u2019ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don\u2019t think he\u2019d be a tough guy without the United States, and your people are very brave,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut you\u2019re either going to make a deal or we\u2019re out, and if we\u2019re out, you\u2019ll fight it out. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump ended the meeting by saying that Zelensky was not \u201cacting thankful\u201d and \u201cthat\u2019s not a nice thing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be great television,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Russian officials reacted with glee to the extraordinary scene, while Ukraine\u2019s European allies expressed support for Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia\u2019s former president, said Zelensky had got a \u201csolid slap\u201d from Trump in what he described as \u201ca brutal dressing-down in the Oval Office\u201d.<\/p>\n

The European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Europe would step up its support for Ukraine \u201cso that they can continue to fight back the aggressor.\u201d In an indirect rebuke to Trump, she said: \u201cToday, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It\u2019s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, praised Zelensky. \u201cYour dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless,\u201d she posted on X. \u201cWe will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French president, Emanuel Macron, told reporters: \u201cRussia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the aggressed people \u2026 These are simple things, but they\u2019re good to remember at times like these.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a later interview with Fox News, Zelensky said the Oval Office exchange with Trump and Vance was \u201cnot good for both sides\u201d. Asked to respond to Trump\u2019s claim that Zelensky was not interested in peace, he said nobody wanted the three-year war to end more than Ukrainians. But he said Ukraine and Europe needed security guarantees from the US before entering peace talks.<\/p>\n

Even if he gave the order to stop fighting, Zelensky said \u201cnobody will just stop\u201d because everyone is afraid \u201cPutin will come back tomorrow\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want just and lasting peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Despite the tense dialogue, the Ukrainian leader said he was hopeful that his relationship with Trump could still be salvaged and a minerals deal could move forward.<\/p>\n

Before departing to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that Zelensky was \u201clooking for something that I\u2019m not looking for\u201d and again claimed that the Ukrainian leader wanted to \u201cfight, fight, fight\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither we\u2019re going to end it or let him fight it out, and if he fights it out, it\u2019s not going to be pretty because without us, he doesn\u2019t win,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

The personal relationship between Trump and Zelensky has been strained since Trump\u2019s previous administration, when he was impeached \u2013 though not convicted and removed from office \u2013 on the grounds that he had pressured Zelensky to investigate business dealings involving Joe Biden\u2019s son Hunter in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But Friday marked a true low point in the relationship, with the public blow-up coming as Ukraine is desperate for foreign military aid and international support to keep the country afloat amid its grinding defense from the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n

The New Yorker\u2019s Susan Glasser described it as \u201cthe most shocking behavior by Trump and Vance I\u2019ve ever seen in the Oval Office. An ambush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelensky arrived in Washington on Friday after several weeks of tense negotiations in which he alleged that the US was pressuring him to sign a deal that it would take \u201c10 generations to pay back\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump has said that he wants the US to be repaid for providing military aid to Ukraine, but commentators have suggested that the deal looks more like a shakedown at Ukraine\u2019s most vulnerable moment.<\/p>\n

The deal would provide a general framework for a joint investment fund that will take in revenues from the sale of Ukrainian deposits of graphite, lithium, rare earth metals, and oil and gas. But many of those resources are in areas close to the frontlines, and it is unlikely to provide the hundreds of billions of dollars that the US says it wants to recoup from its military aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Neither does it contain specific security guarantees that Ukrainian officials have sought during the negotiations, which have gone back and forth since the deal was first proposed by the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, during a visit to Kyiv earlier this month.<\/p>\n

During a meeting with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Thursday, Trump had suggested that the American workers sent to mine Ukraine\u2019s natural resources could serve as a \u201cbackstop\u201d, a deterrent to further Russian aggression if a deal is made.<\/p>\n

Even as Zelensky arrived at the White House, Trump sought to physically dominate the Ukrainian leader, telling reporters that Zelensky, who was wearing a black turtleneck, was \u201call dressed up\u201d. Zelensky has not appeared in public in a suit since the Russian full-scale invasion three years ago, preferring to wear military-style clothing instead. Trump has complained about the Ukrainian leader\u2019s style of dress.<\/p>\n

Zelensky met with US lawmakers earlier on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn important visit to the United States,\u201d he wrote of his meetings with a bipartisan delegation from the US Senate. \u201cOur discussions focused on the continued military assistance for Ukraine, relevant legislative initiatives, my meeting with President Trump, efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace, our vision for ending the war, and the importance of robust security guarantees.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US military support for Ukraine hangs in the balance and talks over a minerals deal have collapsed following a disastrous White House summit in which Donald Trump warned Volodymyr Zelensky that he was \u201cgambling with world war three\u201d and told the Ukrainian president to come back \u201cwhen he is ready for peace\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":27485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,984,978,976,194,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-news","category-security","category-politics","category-world","category-headline"],"views":77,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27489,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27484\/revisions\/27489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}