After shouting match, Zelensky says Trump’s support for Ukraine still ‘crucial’
Ukrainian leader says US president ‘wants to end the war, but no one wants peace more than we do’; NATO chief urges Zelensky ‘to find a way’ to mend ties with Trump administration
Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his country still needed Donald Trump’s support, despite the US president berating him in a stunning televised confrontation the day before, as Ukrainians rallied around Zelensky as a defender of Ukrainian interests.
Trump accused Zelensky of not being “thankful” for US military aid, later writing that the Ukrainian president had “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office.”
“It’s crucial for us to have President Trump’s support. He wants to end the war, but no one wants peace more than we do,” Zelensky said in a post on the social media platform X.
Zelensky had planned to sign a long-awaited minerals-sharing deal with Washington on the visit, but Trump officials ordered him to leave after the confrontation, US media reported.
“We are ready to sign the minerals agreement, and it will be the first step toward security guarantees,” Zelensky said on Saturday.
European leaders and politicians rushed to Zelensky’s defense after the spat, with the Ukrainian president landing for talks in London earlier Saturday.
“I have been twice on the phone now with President Zelensky. I told him this, we need to stick together, the United States, Ukraine and Europe to bring Ukraine to a durable peace,” NATO chief Mark Rutte told the BBC on Saturday.
Rutte also said he told Zelensky: “You have to find a way, dear Volodymyr, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration.”
The shouting match that unfolded in the final minutes of Friday’s highly anticipated meeting between Trump and Zelensky seemed to dash, at least for now, Ukrainian hopes that the United States could be locked in as a reliable partner in helping fend off, and conclude, Russia’s three-year onslaught.
The exchange delighted officials in Moscow, who saw it as a final breakdown in relations between Washington and the Ukrainian leader.
But many Ukrainians on Friday seemed unfazed by the blowout between Zelensky and Trump, expressing a sense that the Ukrainian leader had stood up for their country’s dignity and interests by firmly maintaining his stance in the face of chiding from some of the world’s most powerful men.
Ukrainian social media was awash in praise for Zelensky late Friday, with officials on the national, regional and local level chiming in to voice their support for their leader.
The outpouring resembled a recent surge in Ukrainian unity after Trump denigrated Zelensky by making false claims that Ukraine was led by a “dictator” who started the war with Russia — comments that led some of the Ukrainian president’s harshest critics to rally around him.
Not all of Ukraine’s political figures, however, were as full-throated in their praise for how the Oval Office meeting concluded. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that he hoped “that Ukraine does not lose the support of the United States, which is extremely important to us.”
“Today is not the time for emotions, from either side. We need to find common ground,” Klitschko wrote in a post on Telegram.
Petro Poroshenko, Zelensky’s political rival and predecessor, appeared to defend Zelensky in a post on Facebook.
“Some people expected me to criticize Zelensky. But no, there will be no criticism, because this is not what the country needs now,” he said.
But he added: “We really hope that President Zelensky has a Plan B.”
The Times of Israel Community.