Zelensky’s White House visit goes off the rails

An astonishing flare-up in the White House between President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have thrown any Russia-Ukraine peace deal — or US-Ukraine mineral deal — into jeopardy.

Trump met Zelensky at the door of the White House where he gave reporters a thumbs up ahead of his arrival. However, the mood quickly turned sour when they sat down for initial remarks ahead of talks and a press conference where the pair were expected to sign the US-proposed minerals deal with Ukraine.

Sat in the Oval Office, Trump was accompanied by key members of his team including J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio. The mood music was initially positive as Trump said it would be ‘great” if he and Zelensky can stop the war between Russia and Ukraine. Zelensky then replied that there should be “no compromises” with Vladimir Putin when it comes to a “peace” deal. Trump went on to tell the assembled press pack that NATO and Europe need to “step up” and not rush to talk about security when a deal still needed to be done. However, the mood then became rather hostile as Vance took issue with Zelensky’s attitude — accusing him of being “disrespectful.”

This then led to a tense exchange of words between Zelensky, Vance and Trump. Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War Three” — and suggested he ought to be “thankful.” The US president went on to say that Zelensky does not have the “cards” right now adding that the exchange is not “going to make great television.” Trump added that it would be “very hard” to do business like this. Reporters quote Vance — who has long been skeptical of US funding to Ukraine — of accusing Zelensky of “litigating in front of the American media” — suggesting his comments were “disrespectful”: “Have you said thank you once?”

The quite extraordinary exchange points to trouble ahead.. While Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron both had civil meetings with Trump earlier in the week, little was secure in terms of security commitments. If Zelensky’s Washington trip proves to be a nightmare, European leaders will soon face some tough decisions about their next step. On Sunday, European leaders will gather with Starmer to discuss their next steps. Judging by today’s display, they may have unappetizing choices ahead of them.