Trump and Zelensky meeting ends abruptly: "He can come back when he is ready for peace"

Following the discussion, President Trump released a statement on his Truth Social account, accusing President Zelensky of disrespecting the United States and emphasizing how the Ukranian president’s actions were triggered by strong emotions.

He further indicated that, in his opinion, President Zelensky believes he has the upper hand in the war because he has the support of the United States. He insisted that he should come back when "he is ready for peace.”

"I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don't want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace," Trump said.

In the midst of the discussion, President Trump acknowledged that it will be difficult to reach an agreement with the Ukrainian president. Meanwhile, the vice president called for trying to resolve disagreements instead of further bickering in front of the media.

"It's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this," Trump said.

President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Zelensky had a heated discussion in the Oval Office. The Ukrainian president asked Vance to go to Ukraine and Vance accused him of conducting propaganda tours.


Trump claimed that Zelensky does not hold the cards at this point. "Your country is in big trouble. You're not winning ... You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us," Trump said.

"You haven't been alone. We gave you, through [our] stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment ... If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would've been over in two weeks," said the Republican.

Minutes earlier, Trump applauded Ukrainian soldiers and President Zelensky's leadership.

President Trump stressed that his intention is to achieve peace. He argued that the war in Ukraine is going in the wrong direction. He claimed that he is in the middle and that is why he insists they find a solution. He said that the war should never have happened.

"I hope I'm going to be remembered as a peacemaker.... I'm doing this to save lives - more than anything else... this could lead to a third world war. This was headed in the wrong direction," Trump said.

President Trump also noted that he supports NATO but the organization needs to step up its work.

"We're committed to NATO - but NATO has to step up and the Europeans have to step up more than they have," Trump said.

President Trump told Zelensky that he is quite close to reaching a ceasefire agreement with Russia. Moreover, according to AFP, Zelensky claims that the U.S. president stands by the Ukrainians while insisting that he does not want compromises with Putin.

President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Friday. The meeting comes amid U.S. efforts to end the war and potentially sign a minerals deal.