Zelenskyy quarrels with Trump and Vance during conversation at the White House

During his visit to the White House on Friday, 28 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued with US President Donald Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance on television.

This was discussed in the broadcast of the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House on 28 February.

First, J.D. Vance said that the Trump administration is currently proving through its diplomatic actions that it is working to resolve the war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy reminded that since 2014, Russia has occupied Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine, and no one has stopped Putin, although the United States has already had several administrations under the leadership of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

«He (Putin) occupied a large part of Ukraine, Crimea. This has been going on since 2014... There was President Obama, President Trump, President Biden, and now President Trump again. May God bless him and let him stop the war. But since 2014, no one has stopped him. He has been occupying and occupying, killing people... No one has stopped him. We had conversations with him, a lot of conversations... I signed an agreement with him in 2019... But after that, he broke the ceasefire. He did not agree to exchange prisoners. What kind of diplomacy are you talking about, JD?», Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

J.D. Vance replied that he was talking about diplomacy that can «destroy your country» and drew attention to the fact that Ukraine «is forcing people» to go to war because it has a shortage of people on the battlefield.

J.D. Vance then said that «you should be grateful to the president (Trump) for trying to end the conflict», then accusing Volodymyr Zelenskyy of coming to the Oval Office to «attack» the Donald Trump administration.

«There are many questions. Let's start with the biggest one. During a war, everyone has problems. Even you. But you have a beautiful ocean and you don't feel it now. But you will feel it in the future», Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Donald Trump interrupted him and said: «No, no, no. Don't tell us how we feel. We are trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us how we feel. You are not in a position to dictate, remember that.» He told Zelensky that Ukraine lacks «strong cards» and Ukrainians should be more grateful.

«I am not playing cards. I am very serious. I am a president in a war», President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response.

As a reminder, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the United States to hold talks with President Donald Trump and sign an intergovernmental agreement on rare earth metals and other minerals.

Peace talks

Earlier, Donald Trump stated that the United States was conducting constructive negotiations on a full-scale war with Ukraine and the Russian Federation. In particular, he expressed hope that agreements would be reached as soon as possible.

He also claimed that Washington had already made some progress in negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In addition, Donald Trump indicated that his administration had already held discussions with Moscow, but did not specify who participated in such a dialogue. Also, during his phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump never said that Europe needs a seat at the table in negotiations on Ukraine.

Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that negotiations between the United States and Russia to end the war without Kyiv's participation pose a threat to everyone.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also noted that he was ready to sit down with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin for the sake of peace, despite his hostile attitude. He also added that he did not see a ready-made peace plan from Trump, but conveyed his readiness to negotiate.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to «allocate people» to negotiate with Ukraine to end the war. At the same time, he called any such talks «illegitimate».

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine does not recognise the loss of its territories, but is ready for diplomatic solutions to return them if it becomes a NATO member.