After the dispute in the White House, Trump's team contacted Zelenskyy to get the negotiations back on track

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, 28 February 2025, photo: Getty Images

Representatives of US President Donald Trump held closed-door talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team after the Oval Office dispute on Friday. Their goal was to get the negotiations back on track.

According to CNN, citing its own sources, Donald Trump's representatives stressed the need to stabilise relations and called for the resumption of negotiations before the US president's speech to Congress.

Among the participants in the conversation with Zelensky was Donald Trump's special representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.

A White House official told CNN that the agreement on the extraction of Ukrainian minerals has not yet been signed. At the same time, a representative of the Trump administration said that negotiations on this agreement «are moving in the right direction».

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The representative of Donald Trump's team also noted that the president, who will address the war in Ukraine during his speech to Congress, is eager to announce the conclusion of the Ukrainian minerals deal.

Dispute in the Oval Office

As a reminder, the meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, 28 February, was ended early. The conversation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the White House turned heated.

According to CNN sources, after the public part of the conversation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended, the American president and his advisers went into a separate room. It was then that Donald Trump finally decided that Volodymyr Zelenskyy «was not in the right place to negotiate», and instructed Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to convey the message that the Ukrainian president should leave.

In turn, after the failure to sign the US subsoil deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States, President Trump and Congress.

In an interview with Fox News, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that such disputes are not good for both sides, but the President of Ukraine cannot «change our Ukrainian attitude towards the Russians» and does not want them to continue killing Ukrainians.

A number of European leaders, as well as American politicians, have expressed support for Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed Ukrainians and Zelensky on the social media platform X with the following words: «Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian friends, you are not alone».

French President Emmanuel Macron also said that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is a state that has been aggressed. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also expressed support for Kyiv, writing: «Ukraine, Spain stands with you». President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen addressed Volodymyr with the following words: «Be strong, be brave, be fearless».

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said after the argument in the White House that it was time for Europe to unite around Ukraine and strengthen its defence without illusions about «Big Brother».

In turn, the leader of the «Servant of the People» faction, David Arakhamiia, supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the White House dispute and stressed that the head of state wanted to put an end to the war.

After a spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump ordered the National Security Staff to check whether Washington could completely or temporarily stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.