After being accused of ‘gambling with World War III’ by Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke out in an interview.
The Ukrainian president didn’t apologise for the exchange as he said he wanted the US to ‘be more on our side’.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance met with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office yesterday (28 February) as talks descended into a heated argument.
He ended up leaving the White House early, putting plans for the US and Ukraine to sign a minerals agreement on hold with their joint press conference cancelled.
A video from the meeting features Trump telling Zelenskyy: “You either make a deal or we are out. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
And he then slams: “You’re not in a very good position, you’ve allowed yourself to be in a bad position… you don’t have the cards right now… you’re gambling with the lives of millions of people! You’re gambling with World War III!”
Having taken to X afterwards to thank America for the ‘support’, Zelenskyy wrote: “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”
He also spoke out on the meeting in an interview with Fox News, saying he is confident the relationship with Trump can be salvaged.
“Because it’s relations more than two presidents. It’s the historical relations, strong relations between our people, and that’s why I always began… to thank your people from our people,” he explained.
Things got heated between the pair (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“Of course, thankful to the president, and, of course, to Congress, but first of all, to your people. Your people helped save our people… we wanted very much to have all these strong relations, and where it counted, we will have it.”
Zelenskyy said the whole exchange was ‘bad for both sides’ but that he is ‘not sure that we did something bad’.
“I just want to be honest, and I just want our partners to understand the situation correctly, and I want to understand everything correctly. That’s about us not to lose our friendship,” he added.
Trump also shared a statement about the tense meeting on his Truth Social platform.
Zelenskyy says he thinks things can be salvaged (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
He said: “We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. 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 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.”
Former president and deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev also shared a shocking statement on X: “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is ‘gambling with WWIII’.”