Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he told Donald Trump that there should be no compromise with Russian President Vladimir Putin in negotiating a resolution to the war. Calling Putin a killer, Zelenskyy said he thinks Trump is on Ukraine’s side. The meeting came ahead of the deal US-Ukraine deal on sharing Ukraine’s mineral riches. The developments in the last few weeks made it clear that Donald Trump was siding with Russia and leaving Kyiv high and dry. Recently, Trump called Zelensky a ‘dictator without elections’ and insisted that Ukraine should not be a party to the peace talks as they have no cards in their hands. The war of words went on as Zelenskyy added to it and accused Trump of remaining in Russian disinformation space.
Trump Thursday backtracked from his ‘dictator’ jibe and expressed shock that he ever called Zelenskyy ‘dictator’. “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question,” Trump responded when asked about the Zelensky comment.
The tension diffused as The White House made a point of honoring Zelenskyy at his arrival with a color guard, demonstrating a desire to smooth over the tensions of recent days. The two leaders were to meet and speak with reporters in the Oval Office, then hold a signing ceremony and news conference.
As Trump and Zelenskyy met, Trump told Zelenskyy that Ukraine must accept “compromises” for a peace agreement with Moscow. In reply, Zelenskyy showed him photographs of war atrocities to Trump and said there would be no compromise. “Crazy Russians,” he said, had deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.
Despite the tension over who should make concessions in the search for an end to the war, Zelensky said, “I think President Trump is on our side.”
Zelenskyy earlier said that he would be speaking to the US president about the “crucial” need for a so-called US security “backstop” to any European deployments of peacekeepers monitoring an eventual truce. “This is crucial, this is what we want to speak about, this is very important,” he said.
Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, ending what had been full-throated support for Ukraine’s attempt to defeat the Russian invasion and casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky. Trump told Zelensky that a truce is “fairly close.”
He also said that a deal he was set to sign with Zelensky allowing US exploitation of Ukraine’s natural resources would be “very fair.”
The resources deal is intended to give the United States access to rare-earth and other critical minerals as part of an overall plan to help Ukraine recover after a truce.
Zelensky told Trump that he should visit his embattled nation. “You have to come and to look.”