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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians reacted with a mix of shock, anger and unease after Friday’s diplomatic row at the White House, and they criticized both President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump for a clash that could directly impact their country’s future.
Some said the Ukrainian president had done his country a disservice with his feisty approach to the new American leadership. The sharp televised exchanges led to the collapse of an economic development and minerals deal that was supposed to be the centerpiece of Mr. Zelenskyy’s visit.
“This is a diplomatic catastrophe for Ukraine, and there will be consequences for our armed forces and for Ukraine in general,” said Alexander Khara, a foreign policy expert and former adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister.
The Oval Office session also included sharp exchanges between Mr. Zelenskyy and Vice President J.D. Vance. Mr. Zelenskyy left the White House on his own shortly after the shouting match, signing no deals and receiving no security guarantees from Washington that Kyiv desperately wanted.
As politicians and analysts brace themselves for the inevitable fallout from the events Friday, many Ukrainians are incensed about the perceived bullying of their head of state on live television.
“Zelenskyy yesterday was faced with the new reality of American idiocracy with Trump,” Ukrainian voice actor Bohdan-Hordiy Beniuk said bluntly in a series of messages on Telegram. “I’m very grateful to all people of the U.S. and I know that people still care about Ukraine. But the new administration. … I wish courage and patience to all Americans.”
SEE ALSO: Democrats: Putin ‘only winner’ from Trump-Zelenskyy public clash
Opposition lawmaker and frequent Zelenskyy critic Oleksiy Goncharenko described the Oval Office meeting as “simply horrible” but said Mr. Zelenskyy bore much of the blame for being undiplomatic.
“In fact, we have seen the end of our relationship with Trump right now,” Mr. Goncharenko wrote on Facebook. “It was an absolute idiocy to start quarreling with the U.S. president in front of the cameras. It can be done and probably should be done, but not in front of cameras.”
Some interpreted the meeting as a soccer match. They tried to decode the two sides’ strategies and analyze how each player performed.
Mr. Khara accused Mr. Vance of being exceptionally “provocative.” Ukrainians consider the American vice president an even stronger skeptic of U.S. military and financial aid to Ukraine than Mr. Trump.
Steven Moore, a former Republican congressional chief of staff and founder of the nongovernmental organization Ukraine Freedom Project, echoed Mr. Khara.
“Vance set up a trap, and Zelenskyy walked right into it,” Mr. Moore said.
He added that Mr. Zelenskyy could have avoided the spectacle by using a professional translator and being more deferential to Mr. Trump, as French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were last week.
“All [Mr. Zelenskyy] had to do was go in and flatter the president, flatter the vice president, say ‘thank you’ 500 times,” Mr. Moore said. “He should not have argued with the president and the vice president in the White House, on television. It was ill-advised.”
Many analysts suggested that a clash was predictable, if not inevitable. In recent weeks, Mr. Trump signaled a distinct shift in American policy toward Russia in the 3-year-old conflict, and the Ukrainian leader had a tough case to make for his war-weary country.
“Even if Zelenskyy had behaved differently and kissed Mr. Trump’s ring, it would not have ruled out a crisis in our bilateral relations further down the road,” said Mr. Khara.
He said Ukrainian security demands and the U.S. administration’s position are irreconcilable.
“I believe that the Russians and Americans have already agreed on the general algorithm of how to approach Ukraine, and it is as a result of this agreement that the U.S. introduced their resolutions to the United Nations,” he said. Washington and Moscow are jointly seeking to blame Ukraine for not being “willing to find a compromise” and have worked out the general contours of an agreement for a reset and restoration of diplomatic relations and an easing of sanctions targeting its economy.
For Ukraine, however, “there is no positive thing at all. It’s no NATO, it’s no restoration of 1991 borders,” Mr. Khara said.
Mr. Zelenskyy received a much warmer reception and a loud ovation Sunday as he traveled to London to meet with European and other allied government heads. Many said European powers would have to step up, given that American aid and diplomatic support for Ukraine could be dramatically scaled back.
“On Friday in the Oval Office, President Zelenskyy pointed out in so many words that Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way, shape or form because he has demonstrated time and time again that he will break any agreements,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the London meeting, which included Mr. Zelenskyy and King Charles III.
“I stand with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and I stand with the people of Ukraine,” Mr. Trudeau added.
Building tensions
Veteran political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said all the events leading up to the contentious meeting suggested a clash.
“Unfortunately, this had been building up, and now the rupture has occurred — the U.N. resolution, the problems that started to arise in the negotiation process. This happened because U.S. policy toward Russia, Ukraine and the definition of the Russia-Ukraine war has changed, which became clear during the Oval Office confrontation,” Mr. Fesenko told RBC-Ukraine.
One consolation for Mr. Zelenskyy is that Washington’s pressure campaign has boosted his once-shaky standing at home. In the hours after the debacle at the White House, Ukraine’s leading politicians offered a rare and remarkable display of unity.
Former President Petro Poroshenko, who finished second to Mr. Zelenskyy in the last presidential election and is now a leader of the opposition, published a video on X where he declined to criticize his political opponent.
“This is not what Ukraine needs right now,” said Mr. Poroshenko. “Ukraine needs unity.”
Popular former general and commander in chief Valerii Zaluzhny, seen as a potential challenger to Mr. Zelenskyy in future elections, published a picture of himself shaking hands with the president on social media. “This war is a test of our resilience and courage, revealing both our strength and the loyalty of our true allies. The road ahead won’t be easy, but together, we will overcome every challenge,” read the caption.
Kyiv-based analyst James Rushton said, “In a very real way, it has consolidated support around Zelenskyy. [Ukrainians] saw someone that wasn’t going to be bullied. They saw someone that was clearly being ambushed by hostile journalists, by someone talking about wearing a suit.”
Mr. Khara concurred.
“The political scientists and colleagues I talk to, we are on the same page, we’re behind our president. And I’m not only talking about those who voted for him or have been supporting him for all these years but also about those who were against him. Certainly, we’re rallying around the flag.”
As Ukrainian officials and citizens adjust to the shock, Mr. Zelenskyy and his advisers seem to believe the rift between Kyiv and Washington can be fixed.
When asked during an interview on Fox News on Friday evening whether he thought his relationship with the Trump administration could be repaired, Mr. Zelenskyy answered, “Yes, of course,” before repeatedly thanking the American people and the White House for their support.
Oleksandr Merezhko, Ukrainian member of parliament and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and International Cooperation, warned that Ukraine and its president bear much of the responsibility for repairing the rift. In an interview with Radio Liberty, he said Ukraine had to “lower the temperature and talk to people who have influence over Trump.”
“We should not give up on President Trump,” said Mr. Merezhko. “We do not lose hope, and … God will help. Zelenskyy did not insult Trump; he defended Ukraine.”
The war in Ukraine ground on as the diplomatic battlefields were shifting. A Russian drone attack Sunday on the Ukrainian city of Kherson killed one person and wounded six, The Associated Press reported, citing city officials.
Russian forces sent 79 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine’s air force told AP that 63 drones were destroyed during the attacks and a further 16 simulator drones were “lost,” likely having been electronically jammed.
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