Summary
During a heated Oval Office meeting, Trump berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, demanding he accept a peace deal with Russia or lose U.S. support.
Trump repeatedly cut Zelenskiy off, accused him of lacking gratitude, and defended Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also ranted about past U.S. elections and personal grievances.
Following the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming Zelenskiy “is not ready for peace.”
The U.S. and Russia recently held talks without Ukraine, raising concerns over sidelining Kyiv in negotiations.
And… Why would they stage that? Trump wanted to get a peace deal so he could claim it as a win of his anti-war presidency. Zelensky wanted to secure further support. Both didn’t get what they wanted.
My take: Trump promised his voters that he would quickly end the war. Turns out it’s not that easy to it so that it pleases Putin and makes him rich. Publicly escalates a conversation into a shouting match so that he can deflect the blame on Zelenksy and save face.
Trump being Trump, he couldn’t manage a quiet diplomatic path that would make everyone happy, (Which would be what you would expect of the top diplomat of a country) but instead did the most destructive thing possible and now everyone loses.
Trump wants whatever Putin tells him. And right now Putin says no deal, and that he’ll sell minerals to the US from Russian occupied Ukraine. Handing Ukraine over to Russia was always Trump’s plan, and if he could extort precious resources from Ukraine before then even better.