President Donald Trump's refusal to grant a key demand made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy precipitated their explosive confrontation during a live press event at the White House.
A stunned world watched Friday as Vice President JD Vance and Trump reprimanded Zelenskyy in full view of reporters, with cameras rolling. From the moment the Oval Office event started, the dynamic between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart was noticeably different from the two other press events Trump held with world leaders this week.
According to sources close to Zelenskyy, tempers had flared even before the event began. The Ukrainian president was apparently presented with a minerals for security agreement by the Trump administration prior to the press event, but the deal included no security guarantees to protect Ukraine from another Russian invasion.
Zelenskyy had warned repeatedly ahead of his trip to Washington, D.C., that, in order to reach a mineral agreement, Kyiv needed these security assurances. Even so, he angered Trump and Vance by rejecting the deal, the source said.
Subsequently, just minutes after reporters asked their first questions, an aggressive spat unfolded between the heads of state that left officials behind the scenes scrambling to understand how the situation fell apart so quickly.
"We cannot just sign an … agreement without any substantial guarantees," one Ukrainian defense advisor told Fox News Digital. "It’s not going to work. It’s just going to reward the aggressor."
Zelenskyy’s refusal to sign a deal apparently contributed to the ire of Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The White House has not confirmed the discussions that occurred ahead of the press event.
The heated spat unfolded after Trump suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022 because Trump wasn’t in office, blaming Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who sat in the Oval Office at the corresponding times.
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