Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “gambling with world war three” as the US president cut short the Ukrainian leader’s long-sought meeting in the White House and told him to return “when he is ready for peace”.
In a joint appearance in the Oval Office on Friday, the two leaders clashed even before the start of their formal meeting, as the Ukrainian president’s attempt to improve strained ties with Washington backfired spectacularly.
Raising his voice at Zelenskyy, who had referred repeatedly to his need for US security guarantees, Trump said: “You don’t have the cards right now . . . You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with world war three.”
The US president, who has lashed out at his Ukrainian counterpart multiple times in recent weeks, issued Zelenskyy with an ultimatum, saying that he would either “make a deal [on the war], or we’re out”.
The extraordinary clash threw into doubt any attempt to end the three-year-long war. While Trump has pushed for a rapid deal with Russia and Ukraine, Kyiv has said no agreement would be stable without the US’s security backing.
Minutes after the cameras were ushered out, in a statement announcing the breakdown of the White House talks, Trump wrote: “President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.”
He added: “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
On Friday afternoon, Zelenskyy wrote on X: “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”
During the Oval Office meeting, vice-president JD Vance had criticised Zelenskyy, saying he had not been sufficiently thankful for the Trump administration’s support.
Later on Friday, Trump said the meeting with Zelenskyy “didn’t work out exactly great from his standpoint. He very much overplayed his hand. We’re looking for peace.”
“He’s looking to go on and fight, fight, fight,” Trump said. “We’re looking to end the death.”
After the meeting in the Oval Office blew up, US officials huddled and decided to tell Zelenskyy to leave, a White House official said. Two US officials were sent to the Roosevelt Room, where the Ukrainians were waiting, to ask them to leave.
One of the Ukrainians suggested a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy to calm tensions, but the US said no, the official said.
The fiery dispute shocked Ukrainians who had been expecting to watch the signing of a minerals deal that Zelenskyy had hoped would help move a key ally closer to providing the guarantees that could bolster a future ceasefire.
A person with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office told the Financial Times that the meeting had ended without the deal being signed.
On Friday evening, when asked by Fox News if he owed Trump an apology, Zelenskyy said: “I respect the president, I respect the American people. I think we have to be very open and very honest and I am not sure that we did something bad.”
“This is not good for both sides,” he added. Asked if his relationship with Trump could be salvaged, he said: “Yes, of course.”
The fight caps an extraordinary week in which the US sided with Russia, China and countries such as North Korea and Belarus at the UN against historic allies such as the UK and France.
European officials were aghast at the scenes from the Oval Office, with one senior diplomat concluding that “we are on our own” and describing the Trump administration as “unhinged”.
“We finally need to wake up and realise: ‘This is it,’” the diplomat added.
During the dispute, Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington Oksana Markarova was seen shutting her eyes, dropping her head and grasping the bridge of her nose as the argument escalated.
Zelenskyy said previous discussions with President Vladimir Putin, beginning after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, had failed to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine again.
“He broke the ceasefire, he killed our people,” Zelenskyy said. “What kind of diplomacy are you asking about?” he said, in a response to comments by Vance that the US was trying diplomacy.
“From the very beginning of the war, we’ve been alone,” Zelenskyy added.
He was scolded by Vance, who asked: “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?”
The Ukrainian leader responded: “During the war, everybody has problems, even you, but you have [a] nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.” Trump replied Zelenskyy was “in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel”.
Trump and Vance pressed Zelenskyy to thank the US. “You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out OK, because of us,” Trump said.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday afternoon, Republican senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham said Zelenskyy should step down if he was not willing to work with the administration.
“He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change,” Graham said.
Zelenskyy had been seeking a seat at the negotiating table after Trump blindsided Kyiv and other European capitals by launching direct talks with Putin over ending the conflict.
The leaders had also been set to sign a minerals deal to set up a joint US-Ukrainian “investment fund” receiving half of all revenues from the “future monetisation” of the country’s natural resources.
Zelenskyy’s visit to the US followed appeals by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron to lobby Trump to provide a US “backstop” to European peacekeepers in Ukraine after fighting ended.
Trump also refused to promise American troops as Starmer and Zelenskyy had hoped.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and António Costa, president of the European Council, said: “Your dignity honours the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President Zelenskyy.”
Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels and Leila Abboud in Paris