President Donald Trump halted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and kicked President Volodymyr Zelensky out of the White House after a blistering Oval Office shouting match between the two leaders.
Friday proved an extraordinary day at the White House, which saw Zelensky walk out of the West Wing and slip into his SUV after an explosive shouting match with the president. He drove under a flood of camera lights and left dozens of unanswered questions.
It leaves Ukraine’s future in doubt as the country fights for its life.
Tempers flared on all sides in the Oval Office showdown. Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine completely if Zelensky did not agree to his peace terms. He accused Zelensky of not being grateful.
Zelensky held his own, even showing Trump photos he brought of the devastation to his country and arguing he had thanked the American people.
The shouting match was unlike anything ever seen publicly in the Oval Office. And it played out on TV screens across the world.
‘You’re gambling with World War III,’ Trump warned Zelensky.
Both men were tense and on the defensive as they tried to talk over one another. At one point, the ambassador to the Ukraine, seated to the side in the Oval, buried her face in her hands.
After the contentious showdown, Trump announced he asked Zelensky to leave.
‘It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy 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,’ he said in a post on Truth Social.
The two men were scheduled to participate in a press conference later Friday. That was canceled.
Zelensky was seen exiting the White House about two hours after his arrival.
He posted his own message on social media, filled with thank yous: ‘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.’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky departs the White House
The set up for a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump which was canceled following their Oval Office meeting
After the cameras left the Oval Office, Zelensky went to a holding room in the West Wing. He and Trump did not meet again.
Trump issued his statement. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Secretary of State Marci Rubio, who were in the Oval Office meeting, went and told Zelensky his meetings at the White House were over, a White House official said.
The two leaders never at their scheduled lunch. White House reporters saw it sitting in the hallway outside the Oval Office, untouched.
The shocking development comes after French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the White House this week in an attempt to gain some sympathy for Ukraine from Trump.
It’s not immediately clear how this will affect peace talks.
Russia approved.
‘The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is “gambling with WWIII,”‘ wrote Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Medvedev on X.
Additionally, the U.S. has given billions to the Ukraine for its fight. Trump and Zelensky were scheduled to sign a deal to give U.S. access to some of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as part of a repayment plan. That trillion dollar deal was not inked.
All this leaves the future of the Ukraine in question.
The day started off pleasant enough with Trump greeting Zelensky at the West Wing door. He even joked the Ukrainian president ‘dressed up’ for the occasion.
But their Oval Office meeting divulged at the 40-minute mark after Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of not being grateful.
That set off Trump. Both men demanded Zelensky say ‘thank you.’
Trump was repeatedly shouting over Zelensky as he tried to defend his position.
President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting in the Oval Office became a shouting match
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the White House
It started when Trump got pressed on historic Russian domination of its neighbors and repositioning the U.S. toward Russia.
‘If I didn’t align myself with both of them, you’d never have a deal,’ Trump explained. ‘You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say: ‘Hi, Vladimir. How are we doing on the deal? It doesn’t work that way. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America.’
Then Vice President JD Vance jumped in.
‘I will respond to this. So look, for four years the United States of America, we had a president who stood up the press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country,’ said Vance.
‘The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy.
Then a fight over history ensued, as Zelensky ran through Ukraine’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. After Zelensky mentioned 2015, Trump jumped in: ‘I was not here.’
‘But during 2014 till 2022 … people have been dying on the contact line.
President Zelensky and President Trump both shouted in their meeting
Then he brought up broken ceasefire and other agreements. ‘What kind of diplomacy JD was speaking about?,’ asked Zelensky.
‘I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country, Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,’ Vance told Zelensky, whose country has been under siege since 2022, and who came to Washington to ink a deal that will give the U.S. access to its rare earth minerals.’
‘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,’ Vance told him.
Vance accused Zelensky of bringing in dignitaries to his country on ‘a propaganda tour’
‘Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?’ Vance berated him.
Zelensky tried to respond, but that only got Trump’s ire up.
‘Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel, because you’re in no position to dictate,’ he said.
‘You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position,’ Trump told Zelensky, after last week calling him a ‘dictator’ and blaming Ukraine for starting the war.
Yelling with his face getting red, Trump intoned: ‘You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now … You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.
Vice President JD Vance injected into the conversation to criticize Zelensky
President Trump gives Zelensky a friendly tap
The day started off pleasantly: President Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House
‘You’re gambling with World War Three. You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country – this country that’s backed to you far more than a lot of people say they should have.
‘Have you said thank you once, this entire meeting,’ Vance said next in the tag team pile-on.
‘You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October,’ Vance, said, characterizing Zelensky’s trip to an ammunition factory.
‘Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country,’ he demanded.
‘You think that, if you will speak very loudly,’ Zelensky tried to counter in his accented English.
‘He’s not speaking loudly,’ Trump said. ‘Your country is in big trouble.’
‘I know,’ Zelensky responded. ‘You’re not winning. You’re not winning this,’ Trump told him.
Zelensky got a moment to try to counter, saying ‘in our country, staying strong, from the very beginning of the war, we’ve been alone, and we are thankful.’
Trump contradicted him, telling him he hadn’t been alone.
‘We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion we gave you military equipment,’ he said, overstating the amount of military hardware.
Trump said Zelensky’s men are ‘brave,’ but then told him, ‘If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.’
‘It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,’ Trump said.
That brought Vance back to demanding thanks.
‘Just say thank you,’ Vance told him.
‘I said it a lot of times,’ Zelensky responded.
Then Trump gave remarks indicating the blow-up was serving a purpose for him.
‘I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful you don’t have the cards. You’re buried there. You people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers,’ Trump said.
‘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 a cease fire. I don’t want a cease fire,’ Trump said, delivering a mocking impression of his counterpart. ‘I want to go, and I want this – look, you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.’
‘Of course I want to stop the war. What I said to you – with guarantees,’ Zelensky said. He has been pushing for security guarantees from the U.S.
Shortly after the argument, Trump ended the public part of the meeting.
‘This is going to be great television, I will say that,’ he said.
As press was being ushered out, President Trump reached over and patted Zelensky’s shoulder.
As this all went on, one White House staffer whispered to another: ‘This is going to be big.’