Dispute with Selenskyj: Trump excludes immediate resumption of conversations

A conversation between US President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj in the White House is completely escalated on Friday (local time). The statesmen then stopped the meeting. A first planned press conference was canceled, Selenskyj left the White House.

Trump had loudly covered the Ukrainian president with violent allegations in front of running cameras. “They jeopardize millions of people. They risk a third world war,” he said to the Ukrainian. Trump asked Selenskyj to be grateful and asked him to change his attitude. He kept interrupting it while the Ukrainian president tried to reply. In places, violent verbal battles developed.

The US President also threatened to let Ukraine down in the fight against Russia if there was no agreement with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. “You will either make a deal or we’re out,” said Trump in the White House. “And when we’re out, you have to fight it out. I don’t think that will be pleasant.”

“The problem is that I have enabled you to be a hard guy,” said Trump about Selenskyj. “I don’t think they would be such a hard guy without the United States.”

“Your country is in great difficulty. I know that you will not win. You won’t win this here. You have a damn good chance of getting out of it because of us,” said Trump and accused Selenskyj unanction. Selenskyj crossed his arms, tried to defend himself and complained that after the Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014, no one had effectively stopped Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. He showed Trump that Ukraine was not in the position of being able to determine the conditions of peace.

Trump was flanked by US Vice President JD Vance. “Mr. President, President, with all respect. I find it disrespectful of you to come to the Oval Office and try to negotiate in front of the American media,” said Vance. “Especially now that they walk around and forced conscripts to the front because they have personnel problems, you should thank President (Trump) to try to improve the situation.”

“If you didn’t have our military equipment, the war would have ended after two weeks,” said Trump, among other things, with a view to the war of attack against Ukraine, which started from Russia in 2022. “You have to be grateful,” said the Republican.

The US President wrote: “Today we had a very important meeting in the White House. We learned a lot that could never be understood without conversations by such pressure and fire. It is amazing what emotions come to light, and I have come to the conclusion that President Selenskyj is not ready for peace if America is involved because he believes that our participation gives him a great advantage in the negotiations. I want peace.

Trump later explained to journalists that Selenskyj had “played too high”. He wanted a ceasefire himself, “immediately,” said the US President. Specifically, Trump accused Selenskyj that he wanted to “continue and continue to fight, continue to fight, continue.

The US President added that Russian head of state Vladimir Putin also wanted to end the war. Trump had previously said that he had already spoken “numerous times” with Putin.

Trump excluded an immediate resumption of conversations with Selenskyj. “He wants to come back immediately. But that doesn’t work for me,” said Trump.

After the meeting was terminated, Selenskyj first expressed grateful. “Thank you America, thanks for the support, thank you for this visit, thank you potus, congress and the American people,” said the Ukrainian president on the platform X. Potus is the abbreviation for President of the United States. “Ukraine simply needs a permanent peace, and that’s exactly what we are working on,” says Selenskyj.

The Ukrainian President later confirmed the need for security guarantees for his country. “We don’t want to experience any surprises,” said Selenskyj in an interview by the US broadcaster Fox News. He emphasized that a raw material deal between the United States and Ukraine was not sufficient to accept peace negotiations with Russia. Such a deal is “the first step towards security guarantees. But that’s not enough.”

The simplest way to reliable protection is a NATO accession of Ukraine, said Selenskyj. But that is not an option for all partners. So he said: “Okay, nobody is pushing for it.” Then security guarantees would have to be created in other ways – and the support of the Europeans by the United States is needed.

When asked whether he was upset after the escalation in the Oval Office, Selenskyj made it clear that it was not about him personally. But when leading politicians claimed that Ukraine was almost defeated, the soldiers would run out that they were not heroes and the Ukrainian president was a dictator, the question arises: “Where is the friendship between Ukraine and the USA?”

Selenskyj made it clear that he did not want to apologize to Trump. When asked about a question: “No. I respect the president and I respect the American people.”

The public confrontation was good for neither sides, said Selenskyj. Nevertheless, he has to say openly: “I cannot change our Ukrainian attitude towards Russia.” The United States and Europe are “best friends” in Ukraine. “(The Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Russia – these are the enemies.” This reality must be recognized.

Selenskyj made it clear that surrender was not an option for his country. “I can’t just say to our people. Nobody will give up because everyone is afraid that Putin will come back tomorrow.”

At the beginning of the interview, Selenskyj had turned directly to the FOX news audience and explained to the camera: “I am very grateful to the Americans for their support. They did a lot. I am President Trump and the congress for the cross-party support-and I have always been.”

The signing of a raw material agreement between the United States and Ukraine did not occur for Friday. Selenskyj and Trump should actually sign the deal for the joint use of mineral resources in Ukraine at the meeting in Washington.

According to Ukrainian information, it was planned that the United States and Ukraine will in future promote raw materials in the Ukrainian field. Trump sees the agreement for military aid achieved by Washington. He had turned his predecessor Joe Biden’s Ukraine policy upside down shortly after taking office by taking up talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting Ukraine or the transatlantic partners.

Trump had also covered his Ukrainian colleague with hair -raising insults in the past few weeks – but alleviated his tone before visiting Selenskyj. The US President finally ended the exchange on Friday with the words “I think we saw enough” and, with a view to the press present, in the room: “This will be great television, I can tell you that.”

Note: This article has been updated several times and added to further information.