President Donald Trump‘s working visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly became heated, endangering the Trump administration’s progress on negotiating a precursory rare earth minerals agreement and an end to the war in Ukraine.
The palpable tension, including the president’s yelling, played out before reporters brought into Trump’s office before their bilateral meeting, lunch, and press conference.
“You’ve got to be more thankful because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards,” Trump said, adding he needed to see an attitude change.
“That’s not a nice thing,” Trump said of Zelensky’s posture.
At one point, Vice President JD Vance told Zelensky he was being “disrespectful” before asking whether he had said “thank you once.”
“You went to Pennsylvania to campaign for the opposition,” the vice president continued, referencing a September visit the Ukrainian president made to the 2024 battleground with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“You’re gambling with WWIII,” Trump added.
Zelensky opened the meeting with photographs from the war as a reminder of Russia’s aggression and the toll it has had on his people. He also brought Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Oleksandr Usyk and his championship belt.
In response, Trump encouraged Zelensky to consider compromises, telling him his “soldiers have been unbelievably brave.”
“This was supposed to be over quickly, and here we are three years later,” he said. “You have to be very proud, but now we want to get it over with. It’s enough.”
Trump then spoke about his legacy if he could negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine.
“I hope I’m going to be remembered as a peacemaker,” he said. “I’m doing this to save lives — more than anything else.”
But even while seated next to Zelensky, Trump was hesitant to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion and defended his own public comments regarding Putin in recent days.
“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,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world.”
Zelensky’s visit comes after a roller coaster in relations between him and Trump.
The pair’s relationship dates back to 2019 and the phone call that precipitated Trump’s first impeachment.
In the Oval Office before his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump acknowledged his relationship with Zelensky has been “testy” at times.
In recent weeks, the relationship eroded further. Zelensky was resistant to the U.S. terms of a rare earth minerals deal despite the Ukrainian president initially proposing it. The first drafts of an agreement, though, included U.S. demands for $500 billion, more than what the U.S. has provided Ukraine. Trump has said repeatedly that the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $350 billion in aid, but the number is closer to half of that.
Trump has also said Ukraine and former President Joe Biden were responsible for the war, regardless of Russia being the aggressor. Trump’s allegations prompted Zelensky to describe the president as living in a “disinformation” space, with Trump responding that Zelensky is a “dictator” because Ukraine has suspended elections, an emergency power permitted under the country’s constitution.
But as Zelensky has warmed to the deal, even without traditional security guarantees, so, too, has his relationship with Trump, until Friday’s public lashing.
Beside Starmer in the Oval Office and then in the East Room for the pair’s joint press conference, Trump was pushed to defend his description of Zelensky as a “dictator.”
“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” Trump said.
Then, during the press conference, Trump was asked whether he owed Zelensky an apology for using the descriptor. In reaction, the president adopted a more deferential tone.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” he said. “We’ve given them a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure it.”
