The 28th of February was anticipated to be promising in peace negotiations surrounding the Russo-Ukrainian War as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. But the meeting only increased tensions as Zelensky left the White House early following confrontational behaviour from Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
It was hoped that under the gaze of the international media presence, the minerals deal which Trump had put forward could be finalised. But the meeting, which got off to a rocky start when a journalist criticised Zelensky’s choice to not wear a suit to the White House only progressed further downhill. And as one journalist pressed Trump about providing security guarantees to Ukraine, the cracks between Zelensky and Trump began to emerge.
Trump brushed off the Idea of providing Increased security, noting that the minerals deal had more significance in terms of guaranteeing peace between Ukraine and Russia than any other proposal, stating that security guarantees were only “2% of the problem.”
But Zelensky disagreed, saying “Putin [had] broken [the ceasefire agreement] 25 times”, since the beginning of the war in 2014. The Ukrainian President had arrived in Washington D.C. with hopes of securing a U.S. backed deal that would include security guarantees, as Zelensky went on to suggest that Europe would still need the help of the U.S. in enforcing Ukrainian security, given that the U.S. is the strongest member of NATO.
With neither side prepared to alter their view, further clashes were inevitable, and from there the meeting descended into chaos, beginning with Vance arguing that former U.S. President Biden was ineffective in preventing the outbreak of the war as Vance felt Biden lacked diplomacy engagement. Zelensky quickly refuted this by pointing out that diplomacy with Putin was an ineffective course of action, unless further security could be provided from allies.
Zelensky also explained that since 2014, Putin had supported the invasion and occupation of Western Ukraine and Crimea by Russian-backed separatists despite the Russian government signing multiple deals, all of which state that Russia would respect Ukrainian sovereignty. Furthermore, in 2019 Zelensky and Putin had also signed a finalised version of the Minsk agreement which aimed to bring about a ceasefire in the Donbas Region. This promise was also broken by Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Vance and Trump's responses to Zelensky were aggressive, with Vance accusing Zelensky of being “disrespectful” towards the U.S. administration, and Trump later remarking that Zelensky was “gambling with World War Three.”
The subsequent press conference was then cancelled, the minerals deal was put on hold, and
Zelensky was told to leave the White House, with his country's hold on U.S. support tenuous at best. With security guarantees to Ukraine remaining unbolstered by the U.S., there are now questions as to whether Trump will pause military aid to the country altogether.
Image courtesy of CNN.
Comments