Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy abruptly left the White House just two hours after his arrival and without reaching any agreement after a press conference that can only be described as ‘very tense’ in which the Ukrainian leader did not hesitate to openly contradict the US President and his Vice-President J. D. Vance about the situation in Ukraine and the dangers of reaching an agreement with Putin.
The press conference, held in the Oval Office of the White House, lasted a total of about 50 minutes and was initially and for most of the time cordial, despite the fact that it was evident that the two presidents held very different views, with Trump showing little – or rather no – interest in listening to the accusations about the massacres committed by Russia or Putin’s treacherous character, and speaking – like Vance – to journalists in terms of internal politics, thinking of his electorate and even going so far as to disparage Joe Biden on several occasions, even referring to him as ‘not a smart guy’.
Almost 40 minutes had passed when, after Vance had intervened to support Trump in response to a question from a journalist, Zelenskyy wanted to ask the US vice-president what kind of negotiation is possible with someone like Putin, who does not respect any agreement. ‘I signed a ceasefire agreement with him, Macron and Merkel in 2019… What kind of diplomacy are you talking about?’ From then on, a heated debate began in which Vance went so far as to reproach Zelenskyy for speaking like that in front of the cameras, while the Ukrainian president asked him what he knew about the reality of Ukraine, a country that Vance has not even wanted to visit.
‘He may have broken deals before, I don’t know. But he hasn’t broken them with me,’ Trump said. ‘You are losing the war. Without us you have no cards to negotiate with. You are gambling with World War III,’ the US president told his Ukrainian counterpart, accusing him of being “very disrespectful” for openly disagreeing with what he and Vance were saying about the situation in Ukraine and the need to reach an agreement with Putin. ’Without us you have nothing to negotiate with. Either you reach an agreement, or we are out,’ the US president said.
Trump: ‘You have to be more grateful’
‘If you hadn’t had our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.” ’In three days, I’ve heard that before from Putin. In two weeks, of course…‘, Zelenskyy replied, countering Trump’s claims that Ukraine is “in serious trouble and losing the war” by saying that “we are resisting, Mr President, we have stood firm since the beginning of the war, we have been fighting alone”.
‘It’s going to be very difficult to do business like this,’ Trump added, ‘You have to say thank you,’ Vance repeated. ‘I have said ‘thank you’ many times to the American people,’ Zelenskyy insisted. ‘You have to be more grateful, you are not being grateful at all,’ emphasised Trump, who minutes earlier had looked visibly uncomfortable when the Ukrainian president showed him photos of the condition of the Ukrainian prisoners of war after being captured by Russia. ‘There should be no concessions with Putin’s killer, he’s crazy,’ emphasised Zelenskyy, who went so far as to warn Trump that a bad peace with Russia will end up bringing war to the United States.
‘Zelenskyy is not ready for peace’
After almost 20 minutes of a heated debate never seen before in public at the White House, Trump seemed to consider the conversation settled. ‘The problem is that I’ve given you the power to be a tough guy. And I don’t think you can be a tough guy without the United States… But you’re going to make a deal, or we’re out. And if we are out, you’ll find it out. You’re not being grateful at all, and that’s not good,’ Trump said before ending the press conference. Shortly afterwards, Vance retweeted this message from Trump himself:
‘I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He has disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for peace,’ Trump wrote via his X account, formerly Twitter.
Zelenskyy left the White House shortly after the press conference without signing any agreement and without attending a lunch planned on the agenda of the meeting, which the Ukrainian president had attended after Trump had called him a ‘dictator’, accusing him of being responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The tense meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump will undoubtedly have a significant influence on the summit that British Prime Minister Jeremy Starmer has called for this Sunday in London, to which he has invited a dozen European leaders as well as the President of Ukraine himself. Many Ukrainians, but also many political leaders in Europe, fear that Trump’s conciliatory stance towards Putin and his intention to make numerous concessions to Russia in order to end the war will end up having the opposite effect, giving the Kremlin the time they need to rearm and initiate new hostilities against any European country, at any time, which would trigger a war in which the US will be forced to intervene.
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As a history lover, Pablo Gómez was captivated by Turkey from the first day he visited it in 2006: he got married there, has a house there… and has since become an expert on Turkey’s current affairs. With a long experience in media, he has been at the helm of hispanatolia.com since 2011.
