Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took an unconventional approach to his meeting with President Donald Trump and carried himself in a “disrespectful manner,” according to administration officials who spoke with the Daily Caller.
Trump openly berated Zelenskyy on Friday during their White House meeting and accused him of “gambling with World War III.”
Zelenskyy fueled Trump's ire by insisting that promises of peace from Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted, noting the Russian leader’s history of broken promises. Trump said Putin hasn’t broken agreements with him.
“During 2015, nobody stopped [Putin]. He just occupied them too. He killed people,” Zelenskyy said. “[Throughout] 2014 and 2022, the situation [was] the same. People have been dying on the contact line, nobody stopped him … He broke this ceasefire. He killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. But he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, J.D., are you speaking about? What do you mean?”
Zelenskyy during the meeting “didn’t read the room,” said one senior White House aide.
“The room was actually very much in favor of signing a deal.”
The Ukrainian president also carried himself in a “disrespectful manner” and rolled his eyes, interrupting Trump multiple times.
“There was a braggadocious hubris about him,” the person told the news outlet.
The astonishing turn of events could scramble affairs in Europe and around the globe. During his visit with Trump, Zelenskyy was expected to sign the deal allowing the U.S. greater access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and hold a joint news conference, but that plan was scrapped after the heated engagement between the leaders in front of the news media.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.