In the ongoing fight of Ukraine to resist Russia’s threat of invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump have been engaged in a lasting (and quite eventful) meeting over this past week to decide on the next course of action. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a smooth deal for America to gain more access to Ukrainian rare earth metal deposits in exchange for the over $180 billion the US has provided to Ukraine and future aid devolved into a heated banter between the two presidents in front of the media. Trump, painting himself as a mediator and a middle party, said that Zelenskyy was “gambling with World War III” and was being “very disrespectful” to the USA, which has backed Ukraine. Zelenskyy went into the White House looking to gain backing from Trump and to persuade Trump to move away from Putin; instead, Zelenskyy was met with shouting and challenges to his character and decision making–keep in mind this is supposed to be one of the most formal settings possible, with two leaders discussing war and peace.
The talks went well for the first half hour, with both sides showing a mutual respect and admiration for the other until Zelenskyy raised the issue of not trusting Putin’s promises to end the fighting. Zelenskyy asserts that Ukraine will not enter peace talks with Russia to end the three-year-long war–as he believes Putin is not yet willing to stop in his goal of conquest–until Ukraine is guaranteed security against another attack. And to be honest, it makes perfect sense from a logical standpoint. Ukraine has been resisting Russia’s advances since 2014, and it needs to know whether it can depend on the US as an ally or not. Instead of being assured by the American president, they were booted out of the White House for being “disrespectful” and unready for peace with JD Vance viewing this ‘transgression’ as broadcasting Zelenskyy’s disagreements with Trump to the public. Trump, expressing his anger at the insufficient gratitude shown by Zelenskyy towards the US, turned on the mineral deal, saying the Ukrainian leader does not have the cards right now and put himself and his country into a dangerous position (despite the war starting with an unprovoked attack from Moscow).
In short, this does not bode well for Ukraine. Because of our administration’s fragile egos and constant need to be revered, the Trump-Zelenskyy fall out has been spectacular, as well as publicly covered by the media, and it leaves us and the whole of Ukraine wondering if relations will be repaired to continue providing aid that Ukraine still desperately needs.
Sources:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/slideshows/a-timeline-of-the-russia-ukraine-conflict
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/trump-zelensky-europe-leaders.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/28/trump-ukraine-russia-zelensky/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2erwgwy8vgo
2 comments:
This meeting was a massive break in decorum and out of line for the appropiate behavior for this kind of meeting. Given that these talks were intended to bring a greater sense of unity between Ukraine and the US, there was no benefit to Trump and Vance lashing out at Zelensky the way they did. Their actions make America appear unreasonable and that they lack any sense of self-control, which naturally comes with diplomatic conversations. Furthermore, Trump and Vance seem to be too focused on the short-term transactionary nature of diplomatic relations, rather than understanding the more symbolic and long-term implications of international relations. This type of mindset could ultimately lead to America's downfall abroad, and will definitely cause long-lasting damage to any future attempts at relations even after the Trump-Vance administration leaves office.
What I found most infuriating about this exchange was Trump and Vance's ignorance when talking on the subject. I'm not completely sure on the details but I remember that Zelensky began to talk about all the time Russia failed to hold up their ends of deals, and the whole time Trump and Vance especially were just yelling over him telling him he is wrong when he is 100% correct. And then when they were yelling about him not wearing a suit, they ignore the symbolic reason he does it to show solidarity with the ordinary Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front. Trump and Vance have embarrassed us in front of the world and made us lose a ton of international prestige, something Trump claims to be improve and made us seem extremely ignorant.
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