Analysis: Donald Trump’s defiant stand reveals deep division with wartime allies

In a shouting match unlike anything ever seen in the Oval Office, the rift between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky turned into a terrifying chasm. Only Moscow will benefit.

Volodymyr Zelensky rubbed Joe Biden the wrong way. The former US president thought he was too demanding and not grateful enough for America’s support.

But whatever differences they had were never put on public display. Mr Biden, regardless of his frustrations, understood the Ukrainian President was trying his best to protect his country from Russia’s illegal invasion. And when Mr Zelensky visited him in Washington DC, he would make it clear he appreciated the billions of dollars in aid, even while asking for more.

Mr Zelensky has always been on the wrong side of Donald Trump too, ever since the US President pressured him in his first term to investigate Mr Biden and his son Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine ahead of the 2020 election.

Things got heated in the Oval Office. Picture: AFP

That led to Mr Trump’s first impeachment.

Since returning to power, the Republican has tried to pretend he supports Ukraine as he pushes for peace with Russia.

It has not been a convincing display, not after he refused to provide US security guarantees for a ceasefire, blocked Ukraine’s pathway to joining NATO, and tried to strongarm Mr Zelensky into giving away his country’s critical minerals to the US.

Most egregiously, Mr Trump echoed Vladimir Putin’s talking points by claiming Mr Zelensky – the democratic leader of an American ally – was a dictator. The day before the Ukrainian President arrived at the White House to meet him, Mr Trump was surprisingly too polite to repeat the attack, deadpanning to a reporter: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”

It might have given Mr Zelensky a glimmer of hope that their talks would be productive, that they could sign a fairer critical minerals deal and then find a way to end the war without capitulating to the Russian dictator.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the White House after meeting with US President Donald Trump, in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

After what happened on Friday (local time), however, it is hard to imagine how the relationship between the leaders can ever be repaired. Unlike Mr Biden, Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance castigated Mr Zelensky on live TV for not being grateful for their support in a tense shouting match unlike anything that has ever been seen in the Oval Office.

Instead of smoothing over their rift, the meeting ripped open a terrifying chasm between the wartime allies, one that will only benefit their mutual enemy in Moscow.

Mr Trump then cancelled a planned news conference and sent Mr Zelensky packing, saying he had “disrespected the United States” and was “not ready for peace if America is involved”.

Mr Zelensky’s critics may suggest he should have copied other foreign leaders and flattered the US President, like British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s nakedly transparent gesture while sitting in the same seat the day before to extend King Charles’s state visit invitation.

But the Ukrainian President is at war. His people are dying to defend their country. He doesn’t need Mr Trump to remind him of that – he needs him to rise to the occasion as the leader of the free world.

Instead, the US President shrunk into a schoolyard bully.

Originally published as Analysis: Donald Trump’s defiant stand reveals deep division with wartime allies