Trump and Zelensky both suffer setbacks after Oval Office blowup
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON : The complex task of negotiating an agreement to halt the Ukraine-Russia war now faces another daunting obstacle—the fractured relationship between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A meeting intended to be a display of unity descended into an on-camera clash, with Zelensky arguing that Moscow couldn’t be trusted to make peace, and Trump, along with Vice President JD Vance, indicting Zelensky’s handling of the war and failure to thank them for U.S.
aid. For Zelensky, the blowup ruined a critical opportunity to secure stronger backing for Ukraine’s long-term defense. For Trump, it was a damaging setback to his goal of forging a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.
But both leaders also have a stake in salvaging their relationship—or at least papering-over their differences. Ukraine wants a deal that returns much of the country’s seized territory and removes Russian troops from the battlefield. Zelensky also wants security guarantees that deter Russia from launching a renewed attack on his country, which even he says would be most effective if they came from the U.S.
Trump, for his part, needs Kyiv to agree to halt fighting as part of a peace agreement, though he has also said he would meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has insisted for weeks that Putin is genuinely interested in peace, alarming Ukraine and trans-Atlantic partners, who feared the White House was preparing to negotiate a peace deal closer to Moscow’s terms than their own. The display of disunity between Trump and Zelensky, even before the planned peace talks are under way, risked emboldening Putin, who has voiced support for halting the fighting but on
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