Trump, Zelensky get into heated exchange at Oval | World News

Washington: Peace talks between the US and Ukraine fell through on Friday after its two leaders were locked in an unprecedented clash at the Oval Office on Friday.

Minutes after the acrimonious exchange, US President Donald Trump accused his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky of disrespecting the US and indicated he had called off the talks.

“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 disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Minutes earlier, Zelensky and Trump clashed repeatedly, with the Ukrainian urging Trump to be cautious with Russia. The two leaders met in the Oval Office prior to an event at which they were expected to sign a deal for US participation in Ukraine’s mineral industry. But Zelensky openly challenged Trump over his softer approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky pushed back on Trump’s claims that Ukrainian cities have been reduced to rubble by three years of war. Trump stressed that Putin wants to make a deal.

“You are gambling with World War Three,” Trump told Zelensky at one point, urging him to be more thankful.

Vice President JD Vance interjected that it was disrespectful of him to come to the Oval Office to litigate his position, a point Trump agreed with.

“People are dying… you’re running low on soldiers,” Trump told Zelensky as their meeting degenerated into a shouting match. Trump told Zelensky he either needed to make a deal or the United States was out.

Zelensky urged Trump to make “no compromises with a killer,” referring to Russia’s leader. Zelensky, who gained billions of dollars’ worth of US weaponry and moral support from the Biden administration for its fight against Russia, is facing a sharply different attitude from Trump. Trump wants to quickly wind down the three-year war, improve ties with Russia and recoup money spent to support Ukraine.

Trump had welcomed Zelensky on his arrival at the White House before they headed for talks, lunch and then a joint press conference where they were to sign the agreement.

“I hope I’m going to be remembered as a peacemaker,” Trump said.

Trump told Zelensky that his soldiers have been unbelievably brave and that the United States wants to see an end to the fighting and the money put to “different kinds of use like rebuilding.”

Trump has adopted a much less committed stance toward European security, a change in tone that has sent shockwaves across Europe and stoked fears in Kyiv and among its allies that it could be forced into a peace deal that favours Russia.

The agreement negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include explicit American security guarantees for Ukraine, a disappointment for Kyiv. Trump says the presence of Americans in business would serve as a form of guarantee.

How much the deal would be worth to the United States is not spelled out. Trump has said he expects to gain hundreds of billions of dollars. Zelensky has said he would not sign an agreement that would put his country in debt for generations. The previous day, Trump met UK PM Keir Starmer, who on Friday decided Britain will host Ukrainian President Zelensky and over a dozen European leaders in London on Sunday to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv in a potential ceasefire with Russia.