Trump and Zelensky clash in explosive row in the Oval office

President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky have clashed in an explosive row in front of the White House media in the Oval Office.

Reuters reported on March 1^st that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting ended in disaster after Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of showing disrespect, driving relations between the two allies to the lowest levels.

After Vance stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve the biggest conflict Europe has seen since World War II, Zelensky countered that Putin cannot be trusted, pointing out that it was the Russian President that broke the 2015 ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

The Ukrainian leader conducted the meeting in his non-native English and was eventually drowned out by the increasing volume of Trump and Vance.

Trump said, “you’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.” Zelensky retaliated arguing he wasn’t playing cards but was very serious before Trump interrupted.

“You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people, you’re gambling with World War Three,” the US president said.

The aim of the meeting for Zelensky was to redirect the Trump White House back towards Ukraine following the meeting between Trump and Putin in Saudi Arabia which saw Trump label Ukraine as responsible for the war and Zelensky as a dictator.

Zelensky had travelled to the US sign a deal that would see Ukraine and the US jointly develop Ukraine’s rich natural resources in exchange for support but, in the most public display of a shifting attitude, the meeting ended with US aides telling the Ukrainian President and his accompanying delegation that it was time to leave.

Trump instead threatened to withdraw US support from Ukraine, saying “you’re either going to make a deal, or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

Trump, as predicted, took to Truth Social after the meeting to accuse Zelensky of disrespecting the United States. “I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved,” he wrote, “he can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

He added, “He doesn’t have to stand there and say ‘Putin this, Putin that,’ all negative things. He’s got to say, ‘I want to make peace.”

The reaction from the United States’ is still emerging but the Democrats have lambasted his handling of the meeting whilst, in Europe, European leaders have leapt to Zelensky’s defense. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “we must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.”

Britain is due to host a meeting of Europe’s leaders and Zelensky on Sunday to discuss a security backstop to any peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv as the Trump administration distances itself from its long-time partners.

In Moscow, the meeting will likely go down extremely well, with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev writing on Telegram that the Ukrainian leader had received a “brutal dressing down.”