Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington would “not put up with” Volodymyr Zelensky’s rhetoric much longer, as the US president prepared to meet his top team after a disastrous Oval Office row with the Ukrainian.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer,” Trump said on social media, citing a story quoting Ukraine’s president saying the end of the war with Moscow was far off.
“This guy doesn’t want there to be peace as long as he has America’s backing.”
Trump also took aim at European leaders who met Zelensky for crisis talks in London at the weekend, saying that they had “stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US”.
“Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
Trump’s broadside came after a meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky at the White House on Friday which descended into an extraordinary on-camera argument.
Trump and Vance raised their voices and accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and ungrateful for US military assistance, as the Ukrainian pushed his demand for US security guarantees as part of any truce.
Zelensky was then told to leave the White House, with a crucial deal giving Washington preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral resources left unsigned.
Trump is now meeting his top advisors on Monday to discuss the next steps on Ukraine, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters. White House officials did not confirm a report by the news outlet Axios that Trump was considering cutting all military aid to Kyiv following the row.
European leaders, who have offered peacekeepers to guarantee any ceasefire but also want a US “backstop”, met in London on Sunday in a desperate bid to resolve the row.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Monday with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss the leaders’ meeting in London. Rubio “confirmed the United States is ready to negotiate to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict and will continue working with the UK towards peace in Ukraine,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
Zelensky, allies to collaborate on peace agreement
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he would work with Europe to set terms for a possible peace deal to present to the United States, after allies gathered in London pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce in Ukraine.
The weekend crisis talks, which brought together 18 allies, came at a delicate moment for war-battered Ukraine, facing uncertain US support and on the back foot against Russia’s three-year invasion.
Days after Zelensky was berated in the Oval Office, European leaders closed ranks in support of Kyiv, with Zelensky saying afterwards the summit cemented their commitment to work towards peace.
“We need peace, not endless war,” he said on Telegram.
“In the near future, all of us in Europe will shape our common positions — the lines we must achieve and the lines we cannot compromise on,” he added.
“These positions will be presented to our partners in the United States.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer likewise said that Britain, France “and others” would work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, which they would then put to Washington.
And French President Emmanuel Macron, flying back from the summit, told Le Figaro newspaper that France and Britain wanted to propose a partial one-month truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure”.
Starmer and Macron have said they are prepared to deploy British and French troops to Ukraine to help preserve any truce.
With no guarantee of US involvement, “Europe must do the heavy lifting”, Starmer said.
One-month truce
Macron told Le Figaro that a truce would not, initially at least, cover ground fighting.
The problem was that it would be very difficult to enforce given the size of the front line, he said.
Peacekeepers would be deployed at a later date, he said, adding: “There won’t be European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks.”
Macron also suggested that European countries should raise their defence spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarisation.
This shift was on full display at the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, who Trump accused of not being grateful enough for US aid and not being “ready” for peace with Russia.
Starmer, who had met Trump just days earlier, insisted the United States was “not an unreliable ally”. Any deal “must have strong US backing” to succeed, he said.
But after the leaders gathered on Sunday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the continent urgently had to rearm to “prepare for the worst”.
And Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for the United States and Europe to show Putin “that the West has no intention of capitulating before his blackmail and aggression”.
On Sunday, Trump dismissed concerns over his closeness with Russia, saying the United States should worry “less” about Putin and more about domestic crime.
‘Constructive’ approach
Trump’s Republican party has largely fallen in line behind his pivot towards Moscow’s narrative on the Ukraine war.
Top officials have suggested Zelensky should step down to ensure a peace deal.
“We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, told CNN.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Zelensky either “needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country”.
Zelensky has repeatedly suggested he would resign in exchange for Nato membership for Ukraine — a goal scorned by Trump.
“If there is Nato and the war is over, it means I fulfilled my mission,” Zelensky said on Monday.
He also stressed the need to keep Washington onside, and signalled his readiness to sign a mineral deal coveted by Trump.
“I am ready to engage in any kind of constructive format in relations with the US,” he said.
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