Everyone knew yesterday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was going to be high-stakes, with Kyiv’s survival hanging in the balance. What nobody expected was the diplomatic disaster for Ukraine that unfolded, with the two presidents descending into a yelling match on international television that may have done more damage than any battlefield defeat at Russia’s hands so far.
President Zelensky should have prioritized one thing above all else going into these talks at the White House: ensuring that Ukraine’s position was presented in a way that didn’t appear to run contrary to the Trump administration’s rhetoric, posturing, and policies. Here, he failed to read the room, repeatedly emphasizing European support over U.S. contributions and ultimately alienating both Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
The United States has been the biggest supporter of Ukraine throughout the conflict, and it’s not even close. Zelensky of course knows this and understands that a peace deal with European support alone would not be enough.
You’d think that going into this meeting President Zelensky would have his priorities straight and be focused on winning over the United States to the cause. He had to have known this was going to be an uphill battle – Trump has long been publicly critical of the amount of aid we have given to Ukraine and the impact that corruption has had with dispersing the aid, and has generally taken a negative view of Zelensky’s alleged support for Democratic candidates.
Despite having the odds stacked against them, the situation is dire – so Ukraine had to try. Right?
Wrong. Instead, Zelensky demonstrated the diplomatic skills of a first-year intern thrown into high-stakes negotiations. From the moment he walked into the White House, his casual attire caught Trump’s attention. During the now-infamous meeting, all seemed to be going well at first. As it went on, however, Zelensky repeatedly stopped to thank the European states for their aid. He could tell that Trump was growing annoyed with this, but continued anyway. By the time that he started to publicly blackmail Trump on international TV with the threat of Russia pushing further West and dragging the U.S. into another war, all was lost. Trump and Vance had had enough, and it went downhill from there.
“Don't tell us what we’re going to feel,” Trump said with a raised voice. “You’re in no position to dictate that.”
“You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump said. “And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country.”
None of this is to excuse Trump’s seemingly constant preference for Putin over Zelensky, blaming Ukraine for the war, or any other of his bizarre takes. Ukraine deserves our support, and I believe that Trump is willing to negotiate a deal that results in a just peace if provided the right incentive structure.
To get him there though, Kyiv needs to seriously step up its game of diplomacy. Coming to the White House and descending into a yelling match with the president and vice president is almost a textbook definition of what not to do. Nobody is calling for Zelensky to bow the knee or sing Trump’s praises, but any serious Ukrainian diplomatic push has to be completely different from what we saw today.
It is unclear at time of writing what the full fallout from this will be. Trump canceled the planned joint press conference where he and Zelensky were going to sign a natural resource agreement that would have given the U.S. access to Ukraine’s raw minerals and strengthened ties between the countries. Zelensky left the White House soon after the meeting, posting to X how thankful he is for America’s support.
In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier Friday evening, Zelensky seemed largely unrepentant for his earlier fiasco, refusing on numerous occasions to apologize to President Trump. While he did go on to admit he was “regretful” that the interaction occurred in public, this does not at all paint an optimistic picture for peace negotiations going forward.
If Ukraine’s president cannot change his approach to dealing with this administration, it may very well be in his country’s best interest to follow Sen. Lindsay Graham’s advice and resign.
