What happened at the meeting
On February 28, 2025 a White House meeting between Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance devolved into an emotional exchange of words.
Zelenskyy's White House visit was supposed to include the signing of a rare earth minerals agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. After the meeting a planned press conference was cancelled, and the minerals agreement was not signed.
Here's a bullet-list of the most notable things said by Trump and Vance at the meeting:
- Trump said "You're not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing."
- Trump said "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. 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."
- Trump told Zelenskyy "You don't have the cards."
- Trump said "You're not in a good position. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people, you're gambling with World War III . And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's backed you."
- Trump said Zelenskyy has "tremendous hatred" towards Putin and "it is very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. I understand that, but I can tell you the other side isn't exactly in love with him, either."
- Trump said that he needs a balanced approach in order to get a deal, adding "You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say, 'Hi, Vladimir. How are we doing on the deal?' It doesn't work that way."
- At one point during the meeting Trump said "I think we've seen enough. This is going to be great television, I will say that."
- Vance said "I think it's disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media."
- Vance said "Do you think that it's 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?"
Source:
Samuels, Brett. (February 28, 2025). "Trump ends talks with Zelensky, accuses him of not being 'ready for peace'". The Hill. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Samuels, Brett; Gangitano, Alex. (February 28, 2025). "Trump, Vance go off on Zelensky in contentious Oval Office spat". The Hill. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Gangitano, Alex. (February 28, 2025). "Trump on Oval Office spat with Zelensky: 'This is going to be great television'". The Hill. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Stanage, Niall. (February 28, 2025). "5 takeaways from Trump-Vance-Zelensky Oval Office blowup". The Hill. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Ravid, Barak; Lawler, Dave. (February 28, 2025). "Trump-Zelensky summit explodes: 'He can come back when he is ready for peace'". Axios. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Shabad, Rebecca; Egwuonwu, Nnamdi. (February 28, 2025). "Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump and Vance unravels into an extraordinary clash". NBC News. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Read a transcript of the key moments of the meeting here.
Watch the entire 50-minute meeting here.
Watch the last ten minutes of the meeting here.
Watch the last five minutes of the meeting (when the meeting becomes heated) here.
In order to get the context and full emotional impact of the most heated part of the meeting, I strongly suggest you watch the five-minute video post above.
What was said after the meeting
Trump posted the following on Truth Social (bold added for emphasis):
A Statement from President Donald J. Trump
"We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was 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 [by "him" I think Trump means Putin] 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, Donald. (February 28, 2025). "A Statement from President Donald J. Trump". Truth Social. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Zelenskyy posted the following on X:
Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.
Zelenskyy, Volodymyr. (February 28, 2025). "X Social Media Post". X. Retrieved 2025-02-28
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chair of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the third President of Russia (2008-2012), posted the following on X:
The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is "gambling with WWIII."
Medvedev, Dmitry. (February 28, 2025). "X Social Media Post". X. Retrieved 2025-02-28
The response from Democrats and Republicans was sharply divided along party lines.
A headline from an article on the conservative website Brietbart read "Trump Kicks Zelensky Out of White House, Cancels Press Conference After Ukrainian's Unhinged Oval Office Outburst".
Later in the day, Zelenskyy sat for an interview with Bret Baier on the Fox News program "Special Report" where Zelenskyy said (bold added for emphasis):
I mean, this is not good for both sides anyway. And I will — I will — very open, but I can't change our Ukrainian attitude to Russian. And I don't want — they are killers, for us.
This is very, very clear that Americans are the best of our friends. Europeans are the best of our friends. And Putin, with Russian, they are enemies. And it doesn't mean that we don't want peace. We just want to recognize the reality.
It's not about [being] mad. [When you hear] president, vice president or somebody or senators — doesn't matter, big politicians — when they, for example, say that Ukraine is almost destroyed, that our soldiers run away, that they are not a heroes, that Ukraine lost millions of civilians, that his president is dictator. The reaction is that, where is our friendship between Ukraine and United States?
When asked if he should apologize for what happened during the meeting, Zelenskyy said "no."
Source:
Nawaz, Amna; Couzens, Ian. (February 28, 2025). "Brooks and Capehart on the implications of Trump's altercation with Zelenskyy". PBS. Retrieved 2025-03-01
McFall, Caitlin. (February 28, 2025). "Zelenskyy says ire with Trump began with pro-Putin rhetoric". Fox News. Retrieved 2025-03-01
Speaking on the PBS Newshour, Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart said:
What we saw in the Oval Office was a travesty, horrendous, despicable. I — there aren't any words to describe what we watched, where we saw a vice president who's never been to Ukraine lecture a wartime president who was clearly summoned to the White House to humiliate him on the world stage either on behalf of or for the benefit of Vladimir Putin in Russia.
And, look, I give President Zelenskyy major points for standing up for himself, for standing up for his nation and standing up for his people. He is in there fighting for America's backing, which, I'm sorry, it should not even be in doubt, given the stakes that are involved and who he is trying to protect his people from.
Speaking on the PBS Newshour, New York Times columnist David Brooks said:
I was nauseated, just nauseated...What I have seen over the last six weeks is the United States behaving vilely, vilely to our friends in Canada and Mexico, vilely to our friends in Europe. And today was the bottom of the barrel, vilely to a man who is defending Western values, at great personal risk to him and his countrymen.
Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And, in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a world that's safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive. And we saw the product of that effort today in the Oval Office.
And I have — I first started thinking, is it — am I feeling grief? Am I feeling shock, like I'm in a hallucination? But I just think shame, moral shame. It's a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way.
Source:
Nawaz, Amna; Couzens, Ian. (February 28, 2025). "Brooks and Capehart on the implications of Trump's altercation with Zelenskyy". PBS. Retrieved 2025-03-01
Mar 5, 2025 Update
U.S. Cut Ukraine Off NATO's Intelligence Channel: Reports | Newsweek
Mar 3, 2025 Update
Trump pauses aid to Ukraine amid clash with Zelensky | The Hill
Vance knocks Zelensky for 'sense of entitlement' after Oval Office spat | The Hill
View from Russia: Zelensky 'argued and was rude' in Oval Office, state media says | CNN
Moscow reacts with glee to Trump berating Zelensky, and pushes on with restoring US ties | CNN
Mar 2, 2025 Update
Ukraine outlines key terms for ceasefire with Russia | RBC-Ukraine
Ukraine signs one of its largest security agreements ever: Details | RBC-Ukraine
Commentary:
The tone and energy during the last five minutes of the meeting was palpable. It was very difficult to watch. As I said previously, in order to get the context and full emotional impact of the most heated part of the meeting, I strongly suggest you watch the last five minutes of the meeting here.
Trump recently said that Zelenskyy is a dictator. Trump also recently said that Zelenskyy started the war. Earlier this week the United States abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution that named Russia as the aggressor in the war. These statements and actions undeniably set the stage for what happened today at the White House.
If there was even a shadow of doubt left about where Trump stands, today he made that perfectly clear when he said:
Trump will not, and in his mind he cannot state the fact that Russia is the aggressor and that Russia started the war by invading Ukraine. In his supposed role as a peacemaker Trump knows that Putin will never admit to being the aggressor in Ukraine. He knows it's a "non-starter" as far as any deal with Russia is concerned, as is the possibility of future Ukranian membership in NATO.
But to not stand up and state what is objective reality is not only a major "slap in the face" to Ukraine, it's people, and Zelenskyy, it's a "free pass" for Putin. It's a "get out of jail free card" where Putin has no accountability for his aggression, the destruction caused by the bombing of Ukranian cities, and the deaths and suffering of innocent Ukrainian citizens.
A truly fair peace "deal" must hold Russia and Putin accountable. It must also include some sort of "ironclad" guarantee of future Ukrainian security to be provided by the United States.
I recently posted an HWR article entitled "Op-Ed | The Handwriting is on the Wall for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine's War with Russia". In that post I listed five major points of contention in any "deal," to which you can add security guarantees for Ukraine.
Even if a "deal" was reached that includes security for Ukraine, what's to say that Zelenskyy would sign it? Trump is a loose cannon who will do whatever is politically expedient in the moment. Signing any "deal" with him is in some ways like making a deal with The Devil. Who's to say Trump would honor any security arrangement in the future? He might renege on his promise and justify it by claiming that this or that has changed since the "deal" was agreed upon, making the "deal" no longer valid. That's just the kind of thing Trump would do.
At this point, I honestly don't see a viable way forward to a "deal" that would end the war. There are simply too many points of contention, and none of the major players (Zelenskyy, Trump, and Putin) are not going to back down.
On February 21, 2022, just prior to the invasion, Putin delivered an address to Russian citizens in which he described in great detail his rationale and justification for invading Ukraine.
One year later On February 21, 2023 Putin delivered another address where he elaborated on the address he delivered in 2022. If you want to understand Putin's reasoning, I suggest you read these two addresses.