From the moment Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walked toward President Donald Trump outside of the White House on Friday, the mood was tense. After a brief “How are you,” Trump immediately commented on what Zelensky, who was donning black pants and a matching military shirt, was wearing.
“Oh, you’re all dressed up,” Trump said sarcastically as the two leaders shook hands.
Whatever cordialness the pair had previously maintained quickly devolved over the next couple of hours in an Oval Office meeting that further strained relations between Trump and Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky into further disarray.
The government heads, along with some foreign policy staffers and reporters, were meeting to discuss a new agreement on rare earth minerals. Upstairs in the East Room, the White House staff had set up a long wooden table for the leaders to sign—but they never got there.
The beginning of the end happened when, around 40 minutes into the conversation, Vance, who hadn’t spoken much until then, began to defend his boss’ handling of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
“The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy,” the vice president said toward Zelensky. In a frustrated response, Zelensky outlined the ceasefires Russia had broken in the past, going back a decade. “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” he asked. “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance said back, sitting on a sofa with Trump to his right in a chair.
“I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” he continued, one of multiple times he gestured to reporters in the room. The group of pool reporters in the Oval Office was hand-picked by the Trump administration, their latest move in restricting which media outlets have close access to the president. “You should be thanking the president,” Vance said.
The vice president and Zelensky continued their back and forth before Trump interjected—leading to an increasingly loud overlapping of voices in the Oval Office as people reportedly watched on in disbelief. “You don’t have the cards right now, with us you start having cards” Trump said, chastising the Ukrainian president for not being more thankful to the United States, and him personally, for sending aid. “I’m not playing cards,” Zelensky responded. “I’m a president in war.”
Vance then went in again, also accusing Zelensky of not being thankful enough.
“Please, you think if you will speak very loudly about the war—” Zelensky began, before Trump cut him off, saying, “he’s not speaking loudly.”
