President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met at the White House on February 28th to discuss plans involving U.S. aid for Ukraine to fight Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But the televised meeting ended in a heated argument that led to Trump asking Zelenskyy to leave the White House.
The original intent of this meeting was for Zelenskyy to sign a minerals deal that would strengthen the alliance between Ukraine and the U.S. The deal would give the U.S access to Ukraine’s rare earth and other minerals in exchange for possible aid.
Since February 2022, the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the U.S has sent over 113 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine according to USA Facts. Trump has repeatedly stated that this aid is a waste of federal funds and promised during his 2024 presidential campaign to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marc Rubio attended the meeting. All of them wore suits while Zelenskyy wore standard military attire. This unintentionally sparked controversy, and at the beginning of the meeting Trump responded to Zelenskyy’s style choice by stating “You’re all dressed up today.” Later, after being asked a question about his not wearing a suit, Zelenskyy said he will not wear one until the war in Ukraine is over.
This remark was just the beginning of many seemingly aggressive comments Trump made towards Zelenskyy.
As the meeting continued, Trump kept most of the focus on getting Zelenskyy to agree to a ceasefire.
“[I make deals] and I’m in the middle of a mess because [the Ukraine war] is a real mess,” said Trump “It’s a very dangerous one. If this doesn’t get solved it’s not going to get solved for a long time so I hope we’re going to get it solved.”
After this comment, the discussion continued to escalate further.
JD Vance then asked Zelenskyy if he had said thank you once the entire meeting, to which Zelenskyy responded stating, “ A lot of times.” Zelenskyy had thanked Trump during the meeting and he later wrote on X “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit.”
Vance continued to argue with Zelenskyy. “I think It’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” said Vance. “Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems—you should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
Zelenskyy then asked “Have you ever been to Ukraine to see what problems we have? Come once.”
Vance responded, stating, “I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people in your military, and 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?”
“First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you,” said Zelenskyy. “But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel [the problems] now. But you will feel it in the future.”
“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem,” said Trump.
Further into the meeting Zelenskky told Trump “Mr. President, we are staying strong in our country. From the very beginning of the war we’ve been alone and we are thankful. I said thank you in this cabinet.”
Trump then insulted former President Biden’s decisions on funding for Ukraine.
“We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment,” said Trump. “ Your men are brave but they have used our military equipment. If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.”
Zelenskyy agreed with Trump.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” said Trump.
Vance then told Zelenskyy again to say thank you.
“I said thank you—I say thank you to the American people,” said Zelenskyy.
“Accept that there are disagreements, and let’s go litigate those disagreements, rather than trying to fight it out in the American media, when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong,” said Vance.
Trump then started to explain Zelenskyy’s situation to Zelenskyy asking him once again to be thankful.
“You see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important,” said Trump. “That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards. You’re buried there. Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers. Listen, you’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, ‘I don’t want to cease fire. I don’t want to cease fire.’ If you could get a cease-fire right now, I tell you, you take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.”
Zelenskyy said he did want to end the war, but with guarantees that a cease fire would not provide.
The situation started to de-escalate after one more response from Trump.
“That wasn’t me,” said Trump. “That was with a guy named Biden, who was not a smart person. That was with Obama, who gave you sheets. I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins. You got to be more thankful, because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards. It’ll be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.
After the meeting, Trump asked Zelnskyy to leave the White House after encouragement from his advisors.
The minerals deal, that was the original topic of this meeting, was left unsigned. This, and the now damaged relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy, could be detrimental for Ukraine in their war against Russia.
