Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump had a dispute at the White House
Photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump met with Vladimir Zelenskiy in the White House. According to Ukrainian media, the press conference in the Oval Office ended in a tense atmosphere.
The situation escalated after the Ukrainian leader stated that Kyiv was not ready to cease fire and needed security guarantees from Washington.
In response, Trump told Zelenskiy that he was not showing enough "respect" to the US and that "America has no right to dictate how it should behave."
He added that Kyiv must make "compromises" in establishing peace, and if the Ukrainian government refuses to agree, the United States will not participate.
"You can't say to us, I want this, I want that. You have no cards in your hand without us, you should be grateful to us. We gave you $350 billion, and you are in a difficult situation now. You can't say you don't want to stop the war. Either we make this deal, or you walk away from it. You are not showing gratitude," Trump said.
"I didn't come here to play cards," Zelenskiy replied, adding that he had signed an agreement with Putin in the presence of Macron and Merkel.
Trump also mentioned that an agreement on minerals would be signed today. When asked if he would send additional weapons to Ukraine if a ceasefire did not occur, he answered positively.
"Yes, we will send more weapons. However, we are not expecting to send a lot of weapons; we hope to end the war quickly and focus on other matters," Trump said.
The meeting concluded with Trump accusing Zelenskiy of "playing with the start of World War III" and stating, "This will be a great show for television."