Zelensky asked Vance a question – it proved to be a mistake

It could have been worse – they could have started throwing punches. But of all the possible outcomes of Friday’s high-stakes meeting, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump shouting at each other in the Oval Office was not one anyone imagined.

Oksana Makarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, raised her hand to her mouth in a gesture of hopeless shock. Little in her career could have prepared her for what in diplomatic terms is beyond a worst-case scenario.

Vice President J.D. Vance (right) speaks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) as President Donald Trump listens.Credit: AP/Mystyslav Chernov

It started well enough. Zelensky, pale, perhaps worn out by the transatlantic flight, launched into what seemed to be a painstakingly rehearsed list of points that deliberately mirrored Trump’s own speaking style.

“I think we have the best drone production in the world,” he said, trailing the prospect of Ukraine offering the US weapons as part of the thank you for support.

“Have the biggest gas storage in Europe. The biggest,” he added, raising the prospect of a market for American liquefied natural gas.

In a carefully prepared ambush, he handed Trump photographs of emaciated Ukrainian prisoners of war to demonstrate the thoroughgoing wickedness of Vladimir Putin. Trump had no choice but to nod and leaf through them.

It was, on occasion, awkward. At times Zelensky mirrored the same technique Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer had used earlier in the week, gently pushing back on the most controversial of Trump’s assertions while mostly laughing along.

Nonetheless, when it came to the substance, things were pretty much going as well as Zelensky could have hoped.

“I think once we sign the agreement for 95 per cent of it. It is not going back to fighting,” Trump said.

Asked if he would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, Trump answered in the affirmative.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, reacts during the meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.Credit: CNN

“We are going to have arms to Ukraine. Hopefully I won’t have to send that much because we’re looking forward to having this finished.”

On the question of security backstop, he hedged – as everyone expected him to. “We haven’t committed. We will have security in a different form. We haven’t determined that yet,” he said. Having Americans digging minerals out of the ground would provide a degree of protection itself, he suggested.

But he praised both France and Britain for promising to put their own troops forward. Sir Keir and Macron’s preliminary visits had paid off.

When one American journalist asked Zelensky in a hostile tone of voice why he did not wear a suit to the Oval Office, Trump even came to his defence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the White House.Credit: AP

“I like his clothes,” he said.

Months – years – of careful diplomacy by Ukrainian, British and French officials and diplomats were paying off.

Zelensky and his aides have long tried to cultivate Trump, reaching out in public and in private, before and after the campaign.

Macron and Sir Keir this week did the same, trying to pave the way for Zelensky’s visit with their own careful courtship of Trump.

It was all destroyed when US Vice-President J.D. Vance entered the conversation to declare: “The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy.

“We tried the pathway of Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending the POTUS’ words counted more than POTUS’ actions,” he declared.

To anyone who has spent time in or around the Ukraine war, such airy talk of “diplomacy” – as if it means anything without hard force to back it up – is exasperatingly naive.

Zelensky should probably have let it slide. But he was not taking it.

“Can I ask you?” he said, leaning towards Vance.

“Sure,” replied Vance.

Zelensky then reminded the room of the history of the war. How it began with the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donbas in 2014; how no one stopped Putin then, or in the subsequent eight years; and how many times the Russian president had violated the ceasefire before the full-scale invasion.

“We signed with him – me, like a new president, in 2019, I signed with him a deal, with him, Macron and Merkel, a ceasefire,” Zelensky said. “A ceasefire. All of them told me he would never go [against it] ... but after that he broke the ceasefire, he killed our people, and he did not exchange prisoners.

“What kind of diplomacy, J.D., are you speaking about? What do you mean?”

Journalists listen to the meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the Oval Office.Credit: AP/Mstyslav Chernov

It was a mistake.

There followed a barrage of invective about Ukrainian ungratefulness – in front of the world’s media.

“The kind of diplomacy that will stop the destruction of your country,” Vance snapped back, raising his voice. “Mr President, with respect, I think it is disrespectful to come to the Oval Office and litigate this in front of the American media. With respect, offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America.”

Zelensky tried to argue back. “Have you been to Ukraine to say what problems we have?” And if America had to face a war, it too would feel the kind of pressure Ukraine feels, he reasoned.

“You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what to feel! You are in no position to dictate what we feel,” Trump said. “We’re going to feel very good and very strong.”

“You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you are doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country,” Trump bellowed.

There was no way to stop it. Trump and Vance were in fight mode, ladling out accusations of ungratefulness and past grudges at a frantic rate.

One thing war reporters are taught to recognise is when it is possible to reason with an angry gunman at a checkpoint, and when that man is not looking for answers to his questions, but a reason to simply rage. On Friday, it was a case of the latter.

For the next several minutes, both Trump and Vance bellowed and ranted about the “Russia hoax”, about “ungratefulness”, about “disrespect”.

Eventually, Trump drew things to a close.

“I think it is good for the American people to see what is going on, that is why I kept it going so long,” Trump said, in possibly the most telling remark of the whole exchange.

And then it became clear. He and Vance had staged their own diplomatic ambush.

Trump is an excellent showman – it is difficult to believe he did not know where this was going. It was devastatingly effective.

As the smoke from their proverbial gunfire cleared, Ukrainian-American relations were lying bloodied on the Oval Office’s yellow carpet.

The Telegraph, London

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