It could not have gone worse. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House on Friday was supposedly a chance to salvage his relationship with Donald Trump after a stormy few weeks. Instead, it has been damaged beyond repair.
What was billed as an occasion to sign a deal on mineral extraction, cementing US interest in Ukraine’s economy for decades to come, descended into an angry argument that seemed to expose years of tension and distrust between the two leaders.
It was a breathtaking spectacle, broadcast to the world from the Oval Office, the likes of which we have never seen. It will fill Ukraine’s supporters with horror. You can picture Vladimir Putin watching in the Kremlin, the Russian president rubbing his hands in glee.
Zelenskyy found himself being hectored by US vice-president JD Vance to “offer some words of appreciation” to America and its president for their military support. Zelenskyy retorted, quietly but defiantly, that Vance was speaking “loudly” about a country he had yet to visit.
It rapidly deteriorated from there, with a furious Trump telling his Ukrainian counterpart his country would be finished without American support.
“You don’t have the cards,” he said. “You are gambling with world war three.”
The camera cut away to Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington, her head in her hand. Her pained expression said it all: this is a relationship in free fall.
The argument seems to have started when Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not accept a mere ceasefire, since Putin would never stick to it. Kyiv and other European capitals fear that Trump’s objective is to end the fighting, without pushing Moscow to accept a fair and enforceable peace, which would leave Russia time to regroup and attack again. Zelenskyy cut straight to the heart of the problem.
It must be dawning on Europeans that if they want an enforceable ceasefire in Ukraine they are now going to have to enforce it themselves. Zelenskyy is due to meet more than a dozen European leaders in London on Sunday, hosted by UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
It will make for an interesting debrief. Following Friday’s White House blowout, efforts by Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to convince Trump to provide back up for a European stabilisation force in Ukraine will count for nothing.
Zelenskyy would have been wiser to flatter the president and deploy all his charm, rather than being so direct. Although softly spoken, he allowed his emotions to speak, as he often does. Emotion is also what has made him such a compelling wartime leader.
But it is not hard to imagine that Vance and Trump were spoiling for a fight with the Ukrainian leader. The president and his supporters resent Zelenskyy’s refusal to dig dirt on Joe Biden’s son Hunter in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and the way in which his pressure on the Ukrainian became the grounds for impeachment proceedings.
It also helps Trump to put Zelenskyy in an even weaker position when it comes to peace talks. Arguably, the stage was set for an ambush.
In the past two weeks, Trump has done everything to undermine Zelenskyy, making early concessions to Moscow and depicting Ukraine as the aggressor in the three-year war.
Now it seems he wants him out.
Zelenskyy left the White House without signing the minerals deal that was supposed to put relations back on a more stable footing.
“I think we’ve seen enough,” Trump said as he wrapped up proceedings.
“That’s going to be great television, I will say that,” he added.
For Ukraine, it is infinitely more serious than that.