The meeting between Vladimir Zelensky and US President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday devolved into an openly hostile confrontation during which the Ukrainian leader was accused of ungratefulness to the American people and an unwillingness to negotiate an end to the conflict with Russia.
Read the transcript of the heated exchange below:
US President Donald Trump: The world, I am aligned with the world and I want to get this thing [the Ukraine conflict] over with. You see the hatred he has got for [Russian President] Putin? It is very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He has got tremendous hatred, and I understand that, but I can tell you the other side is not exactly in love with, you know, him either. So it is not a question of alignment. I am aligned with the world. I want to get the thing set. I am allied with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I could be tougher than any human being you have ever seen. I would be so tough, but you are never going to get a deal that way, so that is the way it goes.
US Vice President J.D. Vance: I would respond to this. So look, for four years, the US, we had a president [Joe Biden], who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin. And then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of [former US President] Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending that the US president’s words mattered more than the US president’s actions. What makes America a good country? Is America engaging in diplomacy? That is what president Trump is doing.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky: Can I ask you?
Vance: Sure. Yeah, Yeah.
Zelensky: OK. So he [Putin] occupied our parts, big parts of Ukraine, part of East and Crimea. So, he occupied it on 2014. So, during a lot of years… I am not speaking about just Biden, but those time was President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now the President Trump and, God bless, now President Trump will stop him. But during 2014 nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the contact line…
Trump: 2015.
Zelensky: 2014.
Trump: 2014 – I was not here.
Zelensky: Yes, but during 2014 till 2022 what the situation the same that people are been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations, my bilateral conversation and we signed with him, me – like a new president [of Ukraine] – in 2019 I signed with him the deal. I signed with him [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [then-German Chancellor Angela] Merkel, we signed ceasefire. Ceasefire, all of them told me that he will never go. We signed with him gas contract. Gas contract, yes, but after that he broken the ceasefire. He killed our people and he did not exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he did not do it. What kind of diplomacy, J.D., you are speaking about? What do you… what do you mean?
Vance: I am talking about the kind of diplomacy that is going to end the destruction of your country that...
Zelensky: Yes, but what do you...
Vance: Mr. President with respect, I think it is disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now you guys are going around enforcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the [US] president for trying to bring an end to this conflict…
Zelensky: Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have? Have you come once?
Vance: I have been to… I have actually watched and seen the stories and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President, or do you disagree that you have had problems like bringing people in your military.
Zelensky: We have problems…
Vance: And do you think that it is respectful to come to the Oval Office of the US and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?
Zelensky: A lot of, a lot of questions. Let us start from the beginning.
Vance: Sure.
Zelensky: First of all, during the war everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and do not feel now, but you will feel it in the future.
Trump: You do not know that.
Zelensky: God bless…
Trump: Do not tell us what we are going to feel. We are trying to solve a problem. Do not tell us what we are going to feel.
Zelensky: I am not telling you, I am answering on his question.
Trump: Because you are in no position to dictate that…
Zelensky: I am not dictating.
Trump: You are in no position to dictate what we are going to feel. We are gonna feel very good and very strong.
Zelensky: You will feel influence…
Trump: You are right now not in a very good position. You have allowed yourself to be in a very bad position and he [Vance] happens to be right about it.
Zelensky: From the beginning of the war…
Trump: You are not in a good position. You do not have the cards right now. With us you start having cards.
Zelensky: We are not playing cards.
Trump: You are playing cards. You are gambling with the lives of millions of people. You are gambling with Word War III. You are gambling with Word War III. What you are doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country. It has backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.
Vance: Have you said thank you once?
Zelensky: A lot of times.
Vance: No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the US and the president, who is trying to save your country.
Zelensky: Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war…
Trump: He is not speaking loudly. He is not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.
Zelensky: Can I answer?
Trump: No, no. You have done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.
Zelensky: I know.
Trump: You are not winning. You are not winning this.
Zelensky: I…
Trump: You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us.
Zelensky: Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong. From the very beginning of the war, we have been alone and we are thankful, I said thank you…
Trump: You have not been alone. You have not been alone. We gave you through this stupid president [Biden] $350 billion. We gave you military equipment, and your men are brave, but they had to use our military [equipment]… If you did not have our military equipment this war would have been over in two weeks…
Zelensky: In three days, I have heard it from Putin. In three days. This is something
Trump: Maybe less.
Zelensky: In two weeks. Of course, yes.
Trump: It is going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.
Vance: But can you just say thank you…
Zelensky: I said a lot of times thank you to American people…
Vance: Accept that there are disagreements and let us go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you are wrong. We know that you are wrong.
Trump: But you see, I think it is good for the American people to see what is going on. I think it is very important. That is why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful, you do not have the cards.
Zelensky: I am thankful.
Trump: You are buried there. People are dying. You are running low on soldiers. Listen, you are running low on soldiers. It would be damn good news…
Zelensky: Please, Mr. President…
Trump: Then you tell us: “I don't want a ceasefire, I do not want a ceasefire, I want to go and I wanted this.” Look, if you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you take it, so the bullets stop flying and you men stop getting killed.
Zelensky: Of course, we want to stop the war…
Trump: But you are saying you do not want a ceasefire. I want a ceasefire.
Zelensky: But I said to you where are the guarantees?
Trump: Because you get a ceasefire faster than an agreement.
Zelensky: Ask our people about ceasefire, what they think. It does not matter for you what they say?
Trump: That was not with me. That was with a guy named Biden, who was not a smart person. That was with Obama. Excuse me. That was with Obama, who gave you sheets and I gave you Javelins [man-portable anti-tank systems]. Yes, I gave you the Javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave Javelins. You got to be more thankful because let me tell you you do not have the cards. With us you have the cards, but without us you do not have any cards… It is going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.
Journalist: What if Russia breaks the ceasefire?
Trump: What if anything? What if the bomb drops on your head right now? OK? What if they broke it? I do not know. They broke it with Biden because they did not respect him. They did not respect Obama. They respect me.
Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt when they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam, Hillary Clinton, Shifty Adam Schiff, who was a Democrat scam, and he had to go through that and he did go through it. We did not end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff he had nothing to do with. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said: “Oh, oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia.” The 51 agents, the whole thing was a scam and he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff. All I can say is this. He might have broken deals with Obama and Bush and he might have broken them with Biden. He did. Maybe, maybe he did not. I do not know what happened, but he did not break it with me. He [Putin] wants to make a deal. I do not know if you can make a deal.
Trump to Zelensky: The problem is I have empowered you to be a tough guy, and I do not think you would be a tough guy without the US. And your people are very brave. But you are either gonna make a deal or we are out. And if we are out, you will fight it out. I do not think it is going to be pretty, but you will fight it out.
But you do not have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you are in a much better position. But you are not acting at all thankful, and that is not a nice thing. I will be honest, that is not a nice thing.
Alright, I think we have seen enough. What do you think? This is going to be great television, I will say that.
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