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Zelenskyy leaves White House Disappointed without signing minerals deal after Oval spat with Donald Trump and Vance.
President Donald Trump berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being “disrespectful” Friday in an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, then abruptly called off the signing of a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia.
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.
Zelenskyy leaves White House Disappointed
It’s unclear what the blowup could mean for the deal that Trump insisted was essential to repay the U.S. for the more than $180 billion in American aid sent to Kyiv since the start of the war.
And it remains to be seen what, if anything, Trump wants Zelenskyy to do to get the deal back on track.
Top Trump advisers asked the Ukrainian leader to leave the White House shortly after Trump shouted at him, showing open disdain.
“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump told Zelenskyy.
The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute meeting devolved into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Zelenskyy.
Who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage.
Zelenskyy’s main objective going into the sit-down had been to press Trump not to abandon his country and to warn against moving too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead he got shouted at while Trump appeared to play up the drama for the cameras.
