An ugly and unprecedented confrontation in the Oval Office hammered home President Donald Trump’s hostility toward Ukraine and its president, along with his persistent affinity for Russia’s autocratic ruler.
As television cameras rolled, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the democratically elected leader of a country that has been under attack by Russia since 2014, calling him “ungrateful,” “disrespectful,” and “gambling with millions of lives.”
The lecture left no doubt that Trump sees Ukraine merely as one of the parties in a negotiation, and not as a democratic U.S. ally grappling with the invading force of a much larger, autocratic neighbor, Russia.
It also seemed to illustrate Trump’s lopsided negotiating tactics, demanding the weaker side — Kyiv — make concessions instead of trying to pressure Moscow into a compromise.
The extraordinary scene left Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, who was in the room, holding her head in her hands — an image that went viral.
Previous American presidents have had plenty of tense exchanges with allies, but often in private, and never like this.
What made this one different was not just that it unfolded with cameras rolling, but that it featured an American president siding with an autocratic and longtime adversary, Russia, against a nascent democracy that has struggled for years to break away from Moscow’s orbit and join the NATO alliance of Western democracies.
For decades, presidents from both parties embraced the idea that backing democratic countries served America’s interests and reflected its values. U.S. foreign policy viewed democratic states as better allies and better trading partners, helping to promote stability and the free flow of commerce.
But Trump, and the Republican party he has transformed, appears to have rejected that decades-old American consensus.
For Trump, Russia is apparently a powerful country that the U.S. can cut a deal with, and Ukraine is a less powerful country that does not necessarily have a seat at the table or a sympathetic ear at the White House. Democracy doesn’t seem to figure in this president’s equation.
Partisan gulf
After the tense exchange was broadcast, Republicans in Congress almost uniformly praised Trump for attacking Ukraine’s leader. “Thank you for standing up for OUR COUNTRY and putting America first, President Trump and Vice President Vance!” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted on X.
Senator Jim Banks, (R-Ind.) suggested that the Ukrainian leader was spoiled. “Zelensky ungratefully expects us to bankroll and escalate another forever war—all while disrespecting the President,” he said in a statement. “The entitlement is insulting to working Americans.”
A handful of Republicans blamed Putin for the conflict. “Some want to whitewash the truth, but we cannot ignore the truth. Russia is at fault for this war,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
Democratic lawmakers called Trump’s conduct a betrayal of democracy and an ally. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, condemned Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy as a “political ambush” that played into the hands of Putin.
“President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine are fighting for their very lives and existence,” Reed said in a statement. “To mock Ukraine and our allies is a travesty that only benefits Putin.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont lambasted Trump in a post on X. “Sorry, President Trump. We believe in democracy, not authoritarianism.”
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said, “I never thought an American President would choose a Russian dictator over a democratic ally.”
Across Europe, political leaders declared staunch support for Zelenskyy and his country, pledging to stand by Ukraine — without mentioning Trump.
French President Emmanuel Macron said, “There is an aggressor: Russia. There is a victim: Ukraine… They are fighting for their dignity, their independence, their children, and the security of Europe.”
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s next chancellor based on the country’s recent election results, said, “We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, praised Zelenskyy in a post on X. “Your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone,” she wrote. “We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.”
Trusting Putin or Zelenskyy
The meeting in the Oval Office started routinely enough, with President Trump saying it was “an honor” to have Zelenskyy at the White House and the two would sign an agreement that would grant the U.S. a share in Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
But the divide between the two leaders became clear when reporters asked about the details of a possible ceasefire and if the U.S. was prepared to provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
Trump dismissed the idea as irrelevant.
“I don’t want to talk about security yet, because I want to get the deal done,” Trump said. “Security is so easy that’s about two percent of the problem. I’m not worried about security. I’m worried about getting the deal done.”
For months, Zelenzkyy has argued that any ceasefire or peace agreement has to include security commitments from European countries and the United States to help arm and protect Ukraine from further aggression from Russia. European leaders have endorsed Zelenskyy’s stance, and France and the United Kingdom have indicated they would be ready to send troops to back up a peace accord.
Putin’s track record in negotiating peace deals has not reassured the Ukrainians. During the meeting, Zelenskyy recounted how Russia had violated a previous ceasefire earlier in the war, before Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. “That’s why we will never accept just (a) ceasefire,” he said.
The fireworks erupted when Vice President Vance said former President Joe Biden had only offered empty threats and that it was time to pursue diplomacy.
Zelenskyy, appearing exasperated, asked Vance “what kind of diplomacy” he was referring to.
The Ukrainian president recounted how Russia’s military onslaught against Ukraine had begun more than 10 years ago in the Crimean peninsula and in the country’s east, that the world had failed to stop Russia and that diplomacy had failed. Putin, he argued, could not be trusted.
Vance shot back: “Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
As Zelenskyy tried to respond, Trump berated him. “What you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
Zelenskyy warned Trump and Vance that without Ukraine holding Russia back, Putin would eventually strike at NATO’s eastern flank in the Baltics and Poland, possibly pulling America into a conflict.
A White House official told NBC News that Zelenskyy was subsequently asked to leave. After his departure, Trump posted online, “He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
In an interview with Fox News later in the day, Zelenskyy said the public quarrel at the White House was “not good” for either side. And he said Ukrainians “just want to hear that America is on our side and that America will stay with us, not with Russians.”
Trump’s perception of Ukraine
Before the Oval Office confrontation, Trump was asked by a reporter if he was on Ukraine’s side in proposed peace negotiations with Russia or if he saw himself as a mediator “in the middle.” Trump said he was “in the middle,” trying to bring an end to the war.
But Trump’s harsh words for Ukraine in the Oval Office, his recent comments that Kyiv “started the war” and that Zelenskyy is a “dictator,” suggested he is more inclined to Russia’s point of view.
Trump expressed sympathy for the Russian autocrat. He said he and Putin both had been victims of what he has described as false allegations surrounding the 2016 election. U.S. intelligence officials and a Senate report concluded Russia tried to influence the outcome of that election in Trump’s favor and that Moscow operatives reached out to the Trump campaign.
“He had to suffer through the Russia hoax,” Trump said.
In Moscow, Zelenskyy’s rough reception at the White House was greeted with delight.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and the deputy chair of the country’s security council, lauded Trump for telling Zelenskyy “the truth to his face for the first time” and agreed with the American president that Ukraine could ignite World War III.
Medvedev described Zelenskyy as “an ungrateful pig” who “got a solid slap from the pigsty owners.”
