By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday visited the White House over a deal between Kyiv and Washington but the visit did not go as planned as a heated scene ensued between him and the U.S President Donald Trump, descending into verbal exchange.
A viral video showed Trump openly berating the Ukrainian leader during a joint press conference that also touched on the war in Kyiv since 2022 following Russia’s invasion, accusing him of “gambling with world war three”.
“You either make a deal or we’re out,” Trump told Zelensky. His Vice, J.D. Vance, also got in on the act, accusing the Ukrainian President of “litigating in front of the American media”, and saying his approach was “disrespectful”. At one point he asked Zelensky: “Have you said thank you even once?”
Vice-President JD Vance also told Zelensky that the war had to be ended through diplomacy.
Zelensky asked “what kind of diplomacy?” before being accused by the vice-president of being disrespectful.
The discussion then escalated quickly after Zelensky was accused of being ungrateful for three years’ of US support, with Trump saying he was in no position to tell the US how it should feel.
Journalists present at the press conference described the atmosphere as heated with voices raised by both Trump and Vance.
The New York Times said the scene was “one of the most dramatic moments ever to play out in public in the Oval Office and underscored the radical break between the United States and Ukraine since Mr Trump took office”.
Trump took to Truth Social, the social media platform he owns, to say “Zelensky disrespected the US in its cherished Oval Office”.
“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today,” he wrote. “Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure.
“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelensky 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 added that Zelensky “can come back when he is ready for peace”.
The angry exchange could also be linked with the disagreement between the Trump administration and the Ukrainian government over the so-called “minerals deal” that Zelensky was scheduled to sign, a deal which Ukraine was said to be uninterested about.
The deal is about the creation of what will be called a “reconstruction investment fund”, to be jointly owned and managed by the US and Ukraine.
Into the proposed fund will go 50% of the revenue from the exploitation of “all relevant Ukrainian government-owned natural resource assets (whether owned directly or indirectly by the Ukrainian government)” and “other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquified natural gas terminals and port infrastructure)”.
This means that private infrastructure – much of it owned by Ukraine’s wealthy oligarchs – is likely to become part of the deal. This has the potential of further increasing friction between Zelensky and some very powerful Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, US contributions are less clearly defined. The preamble to the agreement makes it clear that Ukraine already owes the US.
The very first paragraph notes that “the United States of America has provided significant financial and material support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022”.
This figure, according to Trump, amounts to US$350 billion (£278 billion). The actual amount, according to the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, is about half that.
