Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that his relations with the United States can still be repaired, after US President Donald Trump shouted at him in an angry White House meltdown accusing the Ukrainian leader of refusing to make peace with Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d Zelensky said when asked in a Fox News interview if the relationship with Trump could be salvaged.<\/p>\n
US-Ukrainian ties are about \u201cmore than two presidents,\u201d he said, adding that Ukraine badly needs Washington\u2019s help in the fight against Russia\u2019s far bigger and better-armed military.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be difficult without your support,\u201d Zelensky said on Fox \u2014 Trump\u2019s favorite news channel.<\/p>\n
Zelensky\u2019s olive branch came hours after the extraordinary Oval Office scene where the years-long US policy of massive support for Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russian invasion collapsed in a shouting match.<\/p>\n
The row saw European leaders scramble to voice support for Ukraine after Zelensky was made to leave the White House early and without signing a minerals-sharing deal seen as vital to an eventual US-brokered truce.<\/p>\n
During the clash, played out in front of US and international media, Trump and Vice President JD Vance shouted at Zelensky, accusing him of not being \u201cthankful\u201d and refusing to accept their proposed truce terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have the cards right now,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou\u2019re either going to make a deal or we\u2019re out, and if we\u2019re out, you\u2019ll fight it out and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelensky departed shortly after, with Trump posting on social media that \u201che can come back when he is ready for peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
US media reported that Zelensky had been told to leave by senior Trump officials.<\/p>\n
The US president told journalists later on Friday that Zelensky was \u201coverplaying his hand\u201d and should agree to end fighting \u201cimmediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelensky, however, refused to apologise, telling Fox News, \u201cI\u2019m not sure that we did something bad.\u201d He did, however, say he wished the exchange had not taken place in front of reporters.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on CNN called for Zelensky to \u201capologise for wasting our time for a meeting that was going to end the way it did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Not alone\u2019
\nUS allies in Europe \u2014 already worried that Trump will force Ukraine to effectively hand victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin \u2014 rushed to back Zelensky.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not alone,\u201d Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, fresh off his own visit to the White House, said he had spoken to both Trump and Zelensky by phone following the clash and vowed \u201cunwavering support\u201d for Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for a summit \u201cwithout delay\u201d between the United States, Europe and their allies on Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said she spoke with her Ukrainian counterpart and reaffirmed Canada\u2019s commitment to \u201cproviding the necessary assistance to ensure Ukraine\u2019s security, sovereignty, and resilience\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump and Vance are \u201cdoing Putin\u2019s dirty work\u201d, top US Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted.<\/p>\n
But Russia was delighted.<\/p>\n
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called Zelensky an \u201cinsolent pig\u201d who had received \u201ca proper slap down in the Oval Office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s Republican Party echoed the Russians in blaming Zelensky.<\/p>\n
Ukraine appeared united behind Zelensky, with its army chief vowing to stand with him while the foreign minister praised his \u201cbravery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compromise with \u2018killer\u2019?
\nThe meltdown came after Trump said Ukraine will have to make \u201ccompromises\u201d in a truce with Russia, which has occupied swaths of the country.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said there should be \u201cno compromises with a killer on our territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
After he pointed out that previous Western-backed peace efforts had failed to deter Russian aggression, Vance interrupted and called him \u201cdisrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The session then boiled over into Trump and Vance loudly berating the Ukrainian leader. He sat in evident discomfort as his hosts talked over him.<\/p>\n
Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky and refusing to condemn the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n
He said in the Oval Office that he had \u201cspoken on numerous occasions\u201d to Putin \u2013 more than has been publicly reported.<\/p>\n
Trump called Zelensky a \u201cdictator\u201d last week and has said he trusts Putin to \u201ckeep his word\u201d over a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Trump told Zelensky that as a mediator he could not criticise one of the main sides.<\/p>\n
However, speaking to Fox News, Zelensky said he wished Trump was \u201creally more on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine continued.<\/p>\n
Russian infantry were on Friday storming the Ukrainian border from the Russian region of Kursk, near areas of the region that were seized last summer by Ukrainian forces, Kyiv said Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that his relations with the United States can still be repaired, after US President Donald Trump shouted at him in an angry White House meltdown accusing the Ukrainian leader of refusing to make peace with Russia. \u201cOf course,\u201d Zelensky said when asked in a Fox News interview if the relationship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6132,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6130\/revisions\/6132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}