Kurt Volker to Newsmax: Push Must Continue to Stop Putin

The United States, Europe, and Ukraine must find a way to work together against Russia, even after the fiery words between President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker said on Newsmax Saturday.

"It's very troubling to see this growing division between Europe and Ukraine on the one hand, and the United States on the other," Volker told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda." "We really need to be working together if we're going to be effective in stopping the war and preventing Putin from starting the next one."

A deal for Ukraine's rare earth minerals was expected to be signed Friday, but Zelenskyy pressed the case for greater security guarantees against further incursions from Moscow, with the heated argument coming as a result.

"I've never seen anything like that," Volker said. "You have to separate the dynamics of the two people and the way they were communicating from the substance. The substance here was about signing this minerals deal, as you said, getting the U.S. and Ukraine aligned economically, shared interests moving forward."

However, he said that he does believe Zelenskyy has "many good points."

"His country has been attacked," he said. "He is defending the country, and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is an undeterred killer. He wants to take over the whole country."

But Zelenskyy "got triggered" by Trump's comments that he trusts Putin would "keep his word" on ending the war, the former ambassador said.

"[Zelenskyy] should never have done that," said Volker. "He should have just sort of let J.D. Vance say what he wanted to say, let the president run the show in his own office, in the Oval Office, go behind closed doors, work things out. But instead, it really blew up. It's going to be harder to put back together now."

Trump, meanwhile, has said that Zelenskyy needs to want peace, so the Ukrainian leader "needs to address that head-on," said Volker.

Zelenskyy also needs to agree that Ukraine is prepared for a ceasefire, said Volker. Then, if Putin agrees to one, the countries can speak of other things, including security assurances and the recovery of occupied territory.

"That's what President Trump is looking for," said Volker. "I hope the European leaders in London, when they meet with Zelenskyy, talk about how to get the U.S. back on track. It is not enough for Europe and Ukraine to stand together and blame Donald Trump. They need to figure out how to get all of us together."

Meanwhile, Volker said he is sure that Putin was "quite alarmed" that it appeared a deal was to advance on Ukraine's rare Earth resources, but now the Kremlin is "delighted" at the dustup at the Oval Office.

Volker also addressed the comments that were made about Zelenskyy's attire in the Oval Office after comments were made about his not wearing a suit and tie even though a request had been made.

But Volker pointed out that on the first anniversary of the invasion, Zelenskyy told the Ukrainian people that he would not wear a suit but would be wearing military gear until the war came to an end.

"That was his commitment to his own people," said Volker. "He wanted to uphold that commitment. And I just have to observe too, you know, we saw the press conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office with the baseball hat and T-shirt, and it's a bit hypocritical to put so much pressure on Zelenskyy on this."

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