Volodymyr Zelensky fought for Ukraine’s security guarantees so fiercely last night, it was as if he’d been invited to sign a surrender to Russia, not a mineral deal with the US. It was neither the time nor the place to take on Donald Trump and JD Vance for parroting Kremlin talking points – a fact Zelensky seemed to acknowledge later on Fox News. Looking visibly distressed, he admitted such matters should be handled behind closed doors. There was regret, but no apology to Trump’s camp. ‘I respect President Trump and the American people, but I’m not sure we’ve done something bad. We must be open and honest’, Zelensky said.
The meeting in the Oval Office turned into disaster because Zelensky couldn’t bite his tongue when he should have, and because he and Trump have fundamentally different visions for how Russia’s war in Ukraine should end. Zelensky insists on receiving security guarantees to achieve lasting peace, while Trump backs quick ceasefire with security discussed afterwards. The American president was so irritated by the topic that, when asked by a reporter last night what would happen if Russia broke the ceasefire, Trump scoffed: ‘What if a bomb drops on your head right now?’.
Trump doesn’t want to have any obligations in Ukraine and insists that Putin can be trusted not to break the ceasefire because Trump is in office. But Ukraine’s security guarantees cannot depend on another country’s temporary administration. Trump’s ignorance of this fact – and of Ukrainians’ needs to ensure the war never happens again – makes the quick peace he dreams of even harder to achieve. This is what Zelensky tried to explain in his third language last night before Trump and Vance took it personally and accused the Ukrainian president of ‘disrespecting’ them and not being grateful enough.
For the past two weeks, the Trump’s administration has used blackmail, intimidation and provocation to force Zelensky into a deal that, in its original form, would have saddled Ukraine with $500 billion in debt to the US. Zelensky fought for a better version of the draft – one he still saw as a concession in exchange for a first step to security – before traveling from a war-torn country to the US to sign it. Zelensky may have been better off ignoring Vance’s jabs and focusing solely on speaking with Trump, but that doesn’t change the reality: Trump either genuinely lives in Russia’s disinformation bubble or is clearly on Russia’s side.
Trump’s rhetoric – calling Zelensky a dictator, blaming Ukraine for ‘starting a war,’ demanding wartime elections to install a more obedient leader, twisting facts and making up numbers about the aid – was seen by Zelensky as a direct attack on him and his country. He entered the Oval Office ready to defend. Did Zelensky overplay his hand? Yes. But when Trump blamed him for having ‘too much hatred’ towards Putin, a man responsible for at least 55,000 Ukrainian deaths in three years, Zelensky knew that staying silent would mean he would have to seek forgiveness later at home.
Whether it was worth the cost is another question. Reports suggest Trump is already considering halting all military aid to Ukraine. Without Patriot air defense missiles, Ukrainian cities will once again be exposed, and it will take Europe months to replace American arms. In response, Ukrainians began raising donations to build nuclear weapons, collecting £400,000 within hours. Of course, the money will ultimately go toward drones, but their message was clear. Last night, they felt disrespected and betrayed by the Trump administration.
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