Trump Administration Updates: Trump and Vance Berate Zelensky, Exposing Break Between Wartime Allies

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Zelensky Leaves White House After Clash With Trump
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a hostile exchange with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during a televised meeting in the Oval Office on Friday involving a potential peace deal with Russia.CreditCredit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
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Peter Baker

White House reporter

Tempers flare and voices are raised in an extraordinary televised encounter.

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The conversation between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine grew heated in the Oval Office on Friday. Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

The United States’ relationship with Ukraine erupted in a storm of acrimony on Friday as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in an explosive televised Oval Office showdown and abruptly cut short a visit meant to coordinate a plan for peace.

In a fiery public confrontation unlike any seen between an American president and foreign leader in modern times, Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance castigated Mr. Zelensky for not being grateful enough for U.S. support in Ukraine’s war with Russia, and sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal on whatever terms the Americans dictated.

With his voice raised and temper flaring, Mr. Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine altogether if Mr. Zelensky did not go along. After journalists left the Oval Office, Mr. Trump canceled the rest of the visit, including a planned joint news conference and signing ceremony for a deal on rare minerals, and U.S. officials told the Ukrainians to leave. A grim-faced Mr. Zelensky strode out, climbed into a waiting black sport utility vehicle and departed the White House grounds.

“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

The White House later sent out Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a close Trump ally, to tell reporters that Mr. Zelensky should consider stepping down. “He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with or he needs to change,” Mr. Graham said on the White House driveway.

The president’s verbal assault on Mr. Zelensky was a stunning display of anger and resentment toward the leader of a country that has been invaded by a larger power intent on eliminating it as an independent state. No other president in memory has lashed out at a visiting foreign leader in the Oval Office on camera in such a vituperative way, not even at an adversary of the United States, much less a putative ally.

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Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters that President Volodymyr Zelensky should consider stepping down.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

Talking over the Ukrainian leader, Mr. Vance called Mr. Zelensky “disrespectful” for coming into the Oval Office and making his case in front of the American news media and demanded that he thank Mr. Trump for his efforts to broker a peace deal with Russia. Mr. Trump jumped in and told the Ukrainian leader that “you’re not really in a good position right now” and that “you’re gambling with World War III.”

“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Mr. Trump added. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

The spectacle underlined how radically Mr. Trump has reoriented American foreign policy in less than six weeks back in office, all but switching sides in the war in Europe as he expresses sympathy for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and antipathy for Mr. Zelensky.

Even as he shouted at the Ukrainian leader in the Oval Office, the president spoke of Mr. Putin as if they were friends, saying that the Russian leader has “been through a lot with me” in enduring the “Russia hoax,” referring to the investigation of Mr. Putin’s clandestine efforts to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election.

The confrontation provided a major boost to Mr. Putin, who has long sought to drive a wedge between Ukraine and its most important patron, the United States. Russian officials seemed overjoyed on social media. “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office,” Dmitri A. Medvedev, a top Putin lieutenant, wrote online.

America’s traditional European allies, on the other hand, were deeply alarmed and rallied behind Mr. Zelensky, with the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and others issuing statements of support for Ukraine and its beleaguered leader. The show of solidarity came just days after the United States sided with Russia over Europe in opposing a U.N. resolution condemning Russian aggression on the third anniversary of its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine.

After leaving the White House, Mr. Zelensky tried to smooth over the rupture with a social media post aimed at Mr. Vance’s complaints about ingratitude. “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people,” he wrote, using the acronym for president of the United States.

In a later interview with Fox News, Mr. Zelensky refused to apologize to Mr. Trump, but expressed regret about the exchange and appreciation to the United States for its support. “We are thankful and sorry for this,” he said.

Mr. Trump seemed less interested in making up. Speaking with reporters on the South Lawn before heading to Florida for the weekend, the president said that Mr. Zelensky opposes peace. “He’s looking to go on and fight, fight, fight,” Mr. Trump said. Asked if he wanted Mr. Zelensky to step down, he said, “I want somebody that’s going to make peace.”

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President Trump berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for not being grateful enough for U.S. aid.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

Mr. Vance’s eagerness to assail Mr. Zelensky raised the question of whether it was a planned or impromptu ambush. Mr. Vance has never been a supporter of Ukraine and said in 2022 that “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.”

After Mr. Vance began chastising Mr. Zelensky, it seemed to prompt Mr. Trump to join in. The result, though, was the blowup of an economic deal that Mr. Trump had prioritized in recent days, a commitment by Ukraine to turn over rare mineral rights to repay U.S. military aid over the past three years. The future of that deal remained unclear. A Trump administration official said later on Friday that all U.S. aid to Ukraine could be canceled imminently.

Mr. Zelensky’s hurriedly arranged visit to Washington to sign the minerals deal was meant to smooth over tensions with Mr. Trump, who just last week parroted Russian talking points by falsely claiming that Ukraine “started” the war and calling Mr. Zelensky a “dictator without elections.”

With Mr. Zelensky agreeing to the minerals deal, Mr. Trump seemed ready to make nice by telling reporters on Thursday that he did not even remember the dictator comment and expressing respect for the Ukrainian leader. He welcomed Mr. Zelensky at the door of the West Wing on Friday morning with an honor guard, and they shook hands politely but without evident warmth.

The encounter, though, quickly turned hostile shortly after they sat down in the Oval Office with journalists present. Mr. Zelensky, dressed in his usual dark long-sleeved shirt, sought to explain the history of the war with Russia, noting that it went back to 2014 when Moscow first seized Crimea and occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and continued through Mr. Trump’s first term.

He also expressed skepticism of peace efforts mentioned by Mr. Vance. “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” he asked, using the vice president’s name instead of title. “What do you mean?”

Bristling, Mr. Vance replied, “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.”

He then began assailing Mr. Zelensky. “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Mr. Vance lectured. “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

Mr. Zelensky suggested that Mr. Vance did not fully understand the challenges Ukraine faces and asked if he had ever visited. “Come once,” he said.

Mr. Vance bristled and dismissed the idea of visiting, accusing Mr. Zelensky of mounting a “propaganda tour” for U.S. politicians. “Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” he asked.

Mr. Zelensky tried to respond to Mr. Vance’s assertions and said that the United States could feel threatened by Russia some day. “You have a nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future,” he said.

That set off Mr. Trump, who cut off Mr. Zelensky. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” he said, raising his voice. “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.”

“I’m not playing cards,” Mr. Zelensky replied. “I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m the president in a war.”

“You’re gambling with World War III,” Mr. Trump retorted. “And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”

Mr. Vance jumped back in. “Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? No.”

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President Trump with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at the White House before their meeting in the Oval Office on Friday.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

“A lot of times,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Even today.”

Mr. Vance then accused him of campaigning for “the opposition” by visiting an ammunition plant in Scranton, Pa., last fall when the Ukrainian leader thanked workers for the arms they were making.

“Please,” Mr. Zelensky said. “You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war —”

Mr. Trump interrupted. “He’s not speaking loudly. He’s not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.”

“I know,” Mr. Zelensky said, adding that he was “thankful” for U.S. support.

Mr. Vance was unsatisfied. “Just say thank you,” he demanded.

“I said a lot of times,” Mr. Zelensky repeated. “Thank you to the American people.”

After the meeting blew up, Trump administration officials regrouped and ultimately decided to tell Mr. Zelensky to leave, according to a person with knowledge of the events. Two officials were dispatched to inform the Ukrainians, who were waiting in the Roosevelt Room. One Ukrainian official proposed a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky to calm things down, the person said, but the Americans said no.

Mr. Graham later called the meeting a “complete, utter disaster” but blamed it on Mr. Zelensky, saying that he had advised the Ukrainian leader in a meeting earlier in the day: “Don’t take the bait. Don’t let the media or anyone else get you into an argument with President Trump.”

It was a measure of how much Republicans have fallen behind Mr. Trump that Mr. Graham and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both onetime hawks and strong supporters of Ukraine against Russia, backed the president and vice president.

“Somebody asked me, am I embarrassed about Trump?” Mr. Graham said. “I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country.”

Mr. Rubio also praised the president: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before,” he wrote online. (He said later on Friday that Mr. Zelensky “should apologize for wasting our time.”) The White House seemed happy to highlight the clash, releasing a list of supportive statements by the president’s own cabinet officials and Republican allies echoing Mr. Rubio’s argument that he was defending American interests.

The Oval Office blowup drew criticism from supporters of Ukraine. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, gave an “answer to Vance” on social media: Mr. Zelensky, she said, “has thanked our country over and over again both privately and publicly.” She was one of several lawmakers who met with Mr. Zelensky before his visit to the White House.

“And our country thanks HIM and the Ukrainian patriots who have stood up to a dictator, buried their own & stopped Putin from marching right into the rest of Europe,” she wrote. “Shame on you.”

Adding their support were presidents and prime ministers of France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Portugal, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg and others.

“We stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times,” wrote Friedrich Merz, set to be Germany’s next chancellor after elections this week. “We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.”

Maggie Haberman and John Ismay contributed reporting.

Katie Glueck

Zelensky did visit Pennsylvania last fall, but not as Vance described.

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In late September 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, right, visited an ammunition factory in Scranton, Pa. The state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, center, joined him.Credit.../EPA, via Shutterstock

As Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in the Oval Office on Friday, he claimed that Mr. Zelensky had gone “to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October,” before the presidential election last year.

Mr. Zelensky did go to Pennsylvania last fall, but his trip unfolded far differently from how Mr. Vance described it.

In late September, Mr. Zelensky visited an ammunition factory in Scranton, Pa., where he thanked workers for manufacturing artillery shells to support Ukraine.

“I began my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the employees at the plant and by reaching agreements to expand cooperation between Pennsylvania” and Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media at the time. “It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail.”

He was joined on the visit by public officials, including Bob Casey, then a U.S. senator, and Matt Cartwright, then a U.S. representative — two Democrats from the Scranton area who later lost re-election. Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat whose state is home to one of the nation’s largest populations of people with Ukrainian ancestry, also joined.

An announcement from Mr. Shapiro’s government office at the time also highlighted the economic partnership signed between Pennsylvania and a Ukrainian province.

“It was very clearly an event that the governor attended in his official capacity as governor, not a campaign event,” Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Mr. Shapiro, said on Friday.

Republicans, including Mr. Vance, criticized the Pennsylvania visit at the time, calling it political. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, even cited the trip in calling for Ukraine to fire its ambassador to Washington.

Mr. Zelensky’s visit to Pennsylvania was part of a longer trip to the United States. He also addressed the United Nations and met with Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris, then the president and vice president, to plead for more American aid and weapons for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. The day after meeting with Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris, he met with President Trump in New York.

“When the president and vice president attacked President Zelensky today, they served to undermine the safety and security of America and our national security interests,” Mr. Shapiro said in a statement on Friday.

Achieving a diplomatic end to the war, he added, “requires an honest reckoning of who started the war and who the aggressor is, and to that question, there is only one answer: Russia.”

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Michael Crowley

Reporting on the State Department and foreign policy

Rubio says that Zelensky’s “frustrations are not unique to President Trump,” referring to reports that the Ukrainian leader had private arguments with former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Michael Crowley

Reporting on the State Department and foreign policy

Rubio, who has excoriated Putin for years as a war criminal, “killer,” “monster,” and clear aggressor in Ukraine, tells CNN: “I’m not going to fall into this trap of who is bad and who’s evil. People can make those conclusions.” Rubio adds about the war, “The point now is it has to end.”

Michael Crowley

Reporting on the State Department and foreign policy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in the CNN interview that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, in his remarks to Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office this afternoon, appeared to be “making the argument that peace is not possible” because Vladimir Putin of Russia “can’t be trusted, and you’re just wasting your time on negotiations.” That is “undermining everything the president has told him he’s trying to do,” Rubio says.

Michael Crowley

Reporting on the State Department and foreign policy

Rubio says that Zelensky could have signed an economic agreement with the U.S. five days ago, but “insisted on coming to Washington.” Blaming Zelensky for the Oval Office blowup, he said it was a major mistake to show up and “start lecturing us about how diplomacy isn’t going to work.”

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Michael Crowley

Reporting on the State Department and foreign policy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells CNN in an interview that “maybe Zelensky doesn’t want a peace deal. He says he does, but maybe he doesn’t,” referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Rubio says that “attacking Putin, no matter how anyone may feel about him personally,” and “calling him names, making maximalist demands” does not make a deal to end the war with the Russian leader easier to achieve.

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Credit...Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times
Michael Crowley

Reporting on the State Department and foreign policy

“And that active open undermining of efforts to bring about peace is deeply frustrating,” Rubio adds. Zelensky “should apologize for wasting our time.”

John Ismay

Reporting from Washington

The flow of U.S. weapons to Ukraine has nearly stopped and may end completely.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine attended a January meeting in Germany with Lloyd J. Austin III, then the U.S. defense secretary.Credit...Ronald Wittek/EPA, via Shutterstock

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine entered the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday knowing that the flow of weapons and military hardware from the United States to his country had essentially stopped.

By the time he left, after a televised argument between the two leaders, the situation appeared even more dire.

As the two men met, it had been 50 days since the Pentagon had announced a new package of weapons to Ukraine and the new administration had said little about providing any more.

A Trump administration official said later on Friday that all U.S. aid to Ukraine — including the final shipments of ammunition and equipment authorized and paid for during the Biden administration — could be canceled imminently.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of that country in February 2022, such shipments of military hardware from the United States were announced roughly every two weeks during the Biden administration, and sometimes just five or six days apart.

According to the Pentagon, about $3.85 billion remains of what Congress authorized for additional withdrawals from the Defense Department’s stockpile. A former senior defense official from the Biden administration said the last of the arms Ukraine had purchased from U.S. defense companies would be shipped within the next six months.

After that, it will be up to a host of European and other countries to keep Ukraine’s guns firing.

Mr. Trump has insisted on “payback” for military aid. On Friday, the two leaders had been expected to sign an agreement that would give the United States access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth.

A draft of the deal vaguely mentioned security guarantees for Ukraine. But Mr. Zelensky left the White House without an agreement, while his country faces relentless attacks from Russian and North Korean troops along a 600-mile front line.

Ukraine has depended on a lifeline of arms from the United States throughout the war, starting the day after Russian troops crossed the border, when the Biden administration announced that it would send Kyiv $350 million worth of arms from the Defense Department’s stockpiles.

The Pentagon sent 71 more shipments of military aid from existing stockpiles worth $33.8 billion. That has included more than three million 155-millimeter artillery shells, tens of thousands of guided artillery rockets and anti-tank missiles, thousands of antiaircraft missiles, thousands of armored vehicles and dozens of tanks.

With none announced since the inauguration, the final shipments of Biden-era goods have slowed to a trickle.

The United States has also provided $33.2 billion under a program called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides funds that Kyiv can only use to buy new military hardware directly from U.S. defense companies.

Those tranches of money had been announced roughly every 44 days under the Biden administration. The last of them was announced on Dec. 30.

It is clear that Ukrainian officials understood what was at stake after the U.S. presidential election last year, and Mr. Zelensky quickly began a concerted campaign to win over the next American president in the hopes that aid to his country would continue.

After Friday’s spectacle in the Oval Office, the Trump administration official said the president might decide to end even the indirect support being provided by the U.S., which includes other types of military financing, intelligence sharing, training for Ukrainian troops and pilots, and hosting a call center that manages international aid at a U.S. military base in Germany.

Such actions would be a shocking abandonment of an embattled partner nation, marking the death knell of support that had survived a political challenge by House Republicans more than a year ago.

In late October 2023, Speaker Mike Johnson began signaling that he would hold up additional funding for Ukraine in the House after Mr. Trump — then out of office — broadcast his hostility toward further aid.

By the time Mr. Johnson lifted his hold and allowed an aid package to pass on April 20, 2024, Russian troops had advanced as Ukraine’s ammunition supplies dwindled.

Since his election, Mr. Trump has vastly overstated the amount of aid the United States has given Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute, a German research organization. He has also falsely claimed that European contributions to Ukraine were loans that Kyiv would repay.

European nations have contributed $138 billion to Ukraine’s war effort compared with $119 billion in military and humanitarian assistance from the U.S., according to Kiel Institute data.

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A U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer firing at Russian positions from the Donetsk region of Ukraine in 2022.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Once the last of the U.S.-funded purchases of arms end, the main source of military assistance for Kyiv will be the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a collection of roughly 50 nations founded in April 2022 by former Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. It met 25 times during the Biden administration to coordinate the provision of weapons and the development of new military capabilities for the embattled nation.

At the contact group’s meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in January, Mr. Zelensky said it would be “crazy to drop the ball now” on assistance, after Ukraine had held off Russian forces for so long.

Mr. Austin, when asked whether he thought the new Trump administration would stick with the coalition, declined to speculate, saying that was a decision “for the next administration to make.”

On Feb. 6, the Pentagon said it was passing leadership of the group to Britain.

The Pentagon referred questions about continuing support to Ukraine to the British ministry of defense.

“A just and lasting peace is only possible if we continue to show strength and provide Ukraine with the support it needs to defend itself against continued Russian aggression,” a spokesman for the ministry of defense said in response to questions about how Britain would lead the contact group. “There will be no letup in our support, which we will continue for as long as it is necessary.”

Shawn McCreesh

White House reporter

‘This is going to be great television’: Trump sums up his showdown with Zelensky.

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President Trump sounded almost excited by the drama of his fiery confrontation with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

One of the most surreal moments of Friday’s Oval Office showdown between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine came at the very end.

After all the shouting and the saber-rattling and the lecturing and the pleading and the politicking had ceased, the American president shifted a little in his seat and shared an observation.

“This is going to be great television,” he remarked. “I will say that.”

It was a conclusion as startling as it was fundamentally Trumpian.

This was not a season finale boardroom scene of “The Apprentice” that had just taken place. It was the highest of high-stakes talks — one that could determine the fate of millions, the existence of a sovereign nation and the security of a continent — going wildly off the rails.

But for Mr. Trump, one thing that was on his mind, as always, was the ratings. He sounded almost excited by the drama of the spectacle, as though he could feel the front pages of the world’s newspapers being written in real time.

This is a man who spent years yelling at people on TV as a way to make a living. He is wired to think about things in terms of “great television.” He is a highly conscious performer. But playacting as a tough guy on NBC on Thursday nights between 9 and 10 p.m. is not the same thing as bossing around an ally before the eyes of the world, even if Mr. Trump uses the same language to describe one performance as he would the other.

Still, how one postures before the cameras is of paramount importance in this White House.

After the meeting, the president did an imitation of Mr. Zelensky in front of the cameras and said: “All of a sudden, he’s a big shot.” Where Mr. Trump is involved, there is usually room enough for one big shot.

The other European leaders who had come to Washington over the past few weeks to reason with him about Russia understood this. They knew how to play their parts in the Oval Office while the cameras were rolling. President Emmanuel Macron of France literally held Mr. Trump’s hand at one point. Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer presented a letter from King Charles III to Mr. Trump for all to see. It went over so well that Mr. Trump brought the letter out to wave around again a little while later at their joint news conference.

It’s not that Mr. Zelensky doesn’t know how to perform. He was a television actor before he became president and has been skillful in using the media as he tries to galvanize support. But evidently the role of supplicant was not one he was going to play Friday.

Right away, things got off to a bad start, since Mr. Trump seemed to feel the Ukrainian leader was not properly costumed: He wasn’t wearing a suit. “He’s all dressed up today,” Mr. Trump said sarcastically as he greeted him outside the West Wing.

Ordinarily, in the theater of Trump, it is the journalist who plays the role of the heel. The president regularly clashes with members of the news media, and everybody more or less knows how to play their parts. This time the character arguing with him up there was another president — one with his own aims and his own experience playing to the world’s cameras.

Vice President JD Vance told Mr. Zelensky that it was “disrespectful” for him to “try to litigate this in front of the American media.” But so much of the Trump doctrine is litigated before the media. And it was Mr. Vance — a onetime best-selling author and TV talking head who is media savvy himself — who seemed particularly determined to instigate a blowup while reporters were in the room.

Outside the White House, hundreds of journalists lined up for a news conference that would never come. When Mr. Trump announced that he was calling it off, a mob of cameras rushed across the pavement to get the shot.

Mr. Zelensky emerged from the West Wing. He climbed into the back of a black Chevrolet Suburban adorned with two little flags, one American and one Ukrainian. All the cameras slowly turned to watch as he made his way down the drive and away from the White House.

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Tim Balk

Europe rallies around Zelensky after the explosive White House meeting.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky leaving the White House after a heated meeting with President Trump on Friday.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

European leaders quickly pledged their continued support for Ukraine on Friday after President Trump’s blistering criticism of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a meeting at the White House.

Leaders lined up behind Ukraine and praised its embattled president, the statements coming one after the other: from France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Ireland. Canadian, Australian and New Zealand leaders added their voices to the Europeans’.

Even as Western leaders generally shied away from explicitly criticizing Mr. Trump, who had told Mr. Zelensky he was “not in a good position” and angrily threatened to pull American support for Ukraine unless he agreed to a cease-fire deal with Russia, many in Europe addressed their statements of encouragement directly to Mr. Zelensky.

“Your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on social media, referring to Mr. Zelensky. “Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President.”

President Emmanuel Macron of France, who had put on a display of friendship with Mr. Trump during a chummy visit to the White House on Monday, said the United States and Europe had been justified in aiding Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

In a statement, Mr. Macron urged America to remain on the side of the Ukrainians, who he said were “fighting for their dignity, their independence, their children, and the security of Europe.”

Friedrich Merz, who is on track to become Germany’s next chancellor after the country’s election this week, said in a statement addressed to “Dear Volodymyr” that his country would stand behind Ukraine “in good and in testing times.”

“We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war,” Mr. Merz added, apparently referring to Mr. Trump, who has called Mr. Zelensky a dictator and blamed him for the invasion. The departing German leader, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said that Ukraine could rely on Germany and the rest of Europe.

Daniel Fried, a career diplomat under American presidents of both parties who had just returned from a trip to Brussels, said the Oval Office clash had jolted Europe’s capitals, generated a wave of sympathy for Mr. Zelensky and upended a peace process that appeared to be gaining traction.

“The Europeans are horrified and dismayed,” Mr. Fried said, adding that Europeans see the United States shifting to a great-power strategy in which large countries carve up the world. “They’re watching the America they know and respect change in a matter of a couple of weeks.”

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and President Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, a center-left leader who carefully avoided any major disagreements with Mr. Trump during a visit to the White House on Thursday, spoke with Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky on Friday, according to the prime minister’s office. Mr. Starmer “retains his unwavering support for Ukraine and is playing his part to find a path forward to a lasting peace,” the office said in a statement.

Mr. Starmer is scheduled to host in London an international meeting on Ukraine on Sunday with Mr. Zelensky and other leaders from across Europe.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, a right-wing nationalist who has long been at odds with much of Europe, appeared to side with Mr. Trump, saying on social media, “Strong men make peace, weak men make war.” He did not mention Ukraine or Mr. Zelensky in his post.

Mr. Trump’s upbraiding of Mr. Zelensky also predictably won praise in Russia. Dmitri Medvedev, a former Russian president who is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Telegram that Mr. Trump had told “the truth.”

The Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, joined the European leaders in offering words of support for Ukraine, telling reporters that Ukrainians were “fighting for their own freedoms, but also fighting for ours.”

Ms. Joly, whose country’s relationship with Mr. Trump has been deeply strained by the American president’s threats to annex Canada and plans to impose tariffs, stressed the importance of maintaining Western unity over the war in Ukraine. She said that the Russians were watching.

On Saturday morning in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese echoed the messages of support from Europe. Mr. Albanese said his country was proud to help Ukraine defend itself against “the brutality of Russian aggression.”

Mr. Zelensky responded to each European leader on social media, writing, “Thank you for your support.”

But he offered his most ample statement of gratitude to Mr. Trump, who had said in the Oval Office earlier on Friday that Mr. Zelensky was not “acting at all thankful” for American aid.

“Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,” wrote Mr. Zelensky, also thanking Mr. Trump, and adding, “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

Stephen Castle, Christopher F. Schuetze, Nataliya Vasilyeva, Megan Specia and Qasim Nauman contributed reporting.

Shawn McCreesh

White House reporter

On Fox News, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, is describing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine as “rude” and “antagonistic.” She says it is “absolutely not true” that today’s blowup came as a result of any sort of ambush planned by Trump and Vance.

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine concluded the interview on Fox News by expressing regret about his exchange with President Trump and thanking the United States for its support. “We are thankful and sorry for this,” he said. Zelensky also told Bret Baier that “of course” he could salvage his relationship with Trump.

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Tyler Pager

White House reporter

Zelensky said he wished President Trump was more supportive of Ukraine instead of him trying to play the role of the mediator. He reiterated that Russia started the conflict by invading Ukraine. “I want really him to be more at our side,” Zelensky says.

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

Zelensky says the spat in the Oval Office was “not good for both sides.”

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

Zelensky says he does not know whether the confrontation with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance was a planned ambush, as some Democrats have suggested. “It was just a really tough situation,” he says.

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader, rejects the idea that he should step down, after Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters outside the White House that Zelensky should consider resigning after the Oval Office meeting this afternoon.

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Michael D. Shear

White House reporter

Zelensky is refusing to back down in the face of the aggression by Trump and Vance. On Fox News, he’s insisting that Ukraine needs security guarantees in order to end the war with Russia.

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Credit...Win Mcnamee/Getty Images
Michael D. Shear

White House reporter

“I respect our soldiers,” Zelensky says. He says he can’t just say ‘stop’ to his soldiers because people in his country want a just and lasting peace. Essentially, he is saying that he won’t just give up and let Russia win.

Michael D. Shear

White House reporter

President Zelensky tries to give the same history lesson on Fox News that President Trump and Vice President Vance took such umbrage with during the meeting in the Oval Office.

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

On Fox News, Bret Baier asks President Zelensky if he feels like he owes President Trump an apology for the confrontation in the Oval Office this afternoon. Zelensky does not directly answer the question.

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

Baier follows up, pressing him on whether he owes Trump an apology. Zelensky, once again, declines to apologize. “I think that we have to be very open and very honest,” he says. “And I’m not sure that we did something bad.”

Tyler Pager

White House reporter

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, appearing on Fox News after President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated him in the Oval Office today, began his interview with Bret Baier by thanking the American people for supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. “You helped us to survive,” he says.

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Maggie Haberman

White House reporter

A person with knowledge of the events said that after the meeting in the Oval Office blew up, U.S. officials regrouped and ultimately decided to tell President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to leave. The Ukrainians waited in the Roosevelt Room. Ultimately, two U.S. officials were dispatched to tell the Ukrainians to leave. One of the Ukrainians proposed a meeting between Trump and Zelensky to calm things down; the Americans said no, the person said.

Peter Baker

White House reporter

As President Trump left the White House to travel to Florida for the weekend, he assailed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine further, saying that the Ukrainian leader did not want peace. “He’s looking to go on and fight, fight, fight,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “We’re looking to end the death.”

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Peter Baker

White House reporter

Asked if he wanted Zelensky to step down, Trump said, “I want somebody that’s going to make peace.”

Reid Epstein

Politics reporter

Fourteen Democratic governors released a joint statement condemning how President Trump and Vice President JD Vance treated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine today at the White House and pledging their support for Ukraine.

Reid Epstein

Politics reporter

“Donald Trump and JD Vance used the sacred Oval Office to berate President Zelensky for not trusting Vladimir Putin’s word,” the governors said. “Americans must protect our strong democratic values on the world stage instead of undermining President Zelensky’s work to fight for his nation and the freedom of his people after being invaded by Russia.”

Robert Jimison

Congressional reporter

Senate Republicans greeted Zelensky warmly in the morning, but some turned away in the afternoon.

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Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, spoke to reporters outside the White House shortly after President Trump and Vice President Vance loudly rebuked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in the Oval Office.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

Before receiving an Oval Office tirade from President Trump and before his White House visit was unceremoniously cut short on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was welcomed warmly by a bipartisan group of senators at a closed-door gathering at the Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House.

Republicans who have been among the Senate’s staunchest Russia hawks grinned and clasped hands with Mr. Zelensky in photographs posted on social media. But by the afternoon, at least one of them, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, was outside the White House suggesting that Mr. Zelensky should resign.

Another, Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and one of Ukraine’s most outspoken Republican advocates on Capitol Hill — who had organized the meeting at the hotel — took down a post showing him shaking hands with Mr. Zelensky.

The abrupt change in tone reflected the pivot underway in Washington, as some of Ukraine’s most ardent Republican defenders on Capitol Hill found themselves recalibrating and falling in line with Mr. Trump, some discarding long-held positions with remarkable speed.

Mr. Graham, who began the day smiling in multiple photos with Mr. Zelensky, initially appeared eager to celebrate what he had predicted would be a diplomatic victory for the United States with a minerals deal with Kyiv. “This is Donald Trump the deal maker and peacemaker on display,” he declared in a video.

But a few hours later, after Mr. Zelensky was caught in a fiery confrontation with Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, Mr. Graham pivoted dramatically. Appearing on the White House lawn moments after the uproar in the Oval Office, Mr. Graham scolded the Ukrainian president for being “disrespectful” and told reporters that Mr. Zelensky needed to “resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or change.”

Mr. Graham said he had anticipated a blowup, claiming to have warned Mr. Zelensky at the morning meeting not to “take the bait” from Mr. Trump.

Democrats in Congress were quick to condemn the episode, and to offer reminders that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has been the aggressor in the war on Ukraine.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the scene “disgraceful & downright un-American” in a social media post, arguing that it reflected a White House that had “once again sided with a murderous thug, Putin, over our democratic ally, Ukraine.”

Senator Peter Welch of Vermont, who had participated in the morning’s bipartisan meeting, voiced a similar alarm.

“Whose side are we on?” he asked in an interview. “If you say we’re on Ukraine’s side, today’s events are shocking. If you say we’re on Putin’s side, or the president is on Putin’s side, then it all makes sense. That’s what’s so alarming.”

Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, framed the spectacle as an embarrassment on the world stage, calling Trump’s conduct in the meeting “appalling.”

Yet for many Republicans, including some who have long questioned U.S. support for Ukraine, the confrontation was not an embarrassment but a triumph.

The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, chided the Ukrainian president and praised Mr. Trump’s dressing-down of the wartime leader, saying in a social media post that, “What we witnessed in the Oval Office today was an American President putting America first.”

Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee celebrated the U.S.-Ukraine rupture, writing on social media: “The United States of America will no longer be taken for granted. The contrast between the last four years and now could not be more clear.”

And Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a leading Republican opponent of aid to Ukraine over the past three years, called the clash a long-overdue reckoning.

“What we saw today is the culmination of an arrogant small man’s ego FINALLY meeting world leaders who won’t put up with it,” she wrote on social media. “God Bless President Trump and Vice President Vance!!”

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Annie Karni

Congressional reporter

Speaker Mike Johnson, who last year put his own job on the line when he brought to the floor a supplemental aide package to give more than $60 billion in aide to Ukraine, responded on social media to the explosive Oval Office meeting by praising President Trump. “Thanks to President Trump - the days of America being taken advantage of and disrespected are OVER,” he wrote, adding. “What we witnessed in the Oval Office today was an American President putting America first”

The New York Times

Read excerpts from the fiery exchange between Trump and Zelensky.

A meeting between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday turned into an angry showdown at the Oval Office. At times cross talk made some comments difficult to understand. Here are key excerpts from the heated exchange.

Trump (responding to a reporter): I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America. And for the good of the world. I’m aligned with the world. And I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he’s got for Putin. It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He’s got tremendous hatred. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side isn’t exactly in love with him either.

So it’s not a question of alignment. I’m aligned with the world. I want to get the thing set. I’m aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I can be tougher than any human being you’ve ever seen. I’d be so tough. But you’re never going to get a deal that way. So that’s the way it goes.

Vice President JD Vance: I will respond to this. So look, for four years in the United States of America, we had a president 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 Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending that the president of the United States’ words mattered more than the president of the United States’ actions.

What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.

Zelensky: Yeah. OK. He occupied it, our parts. Big parts of Ukraine. Part of east and Crimea. So he occupied it on 2014. So during a lot of years, I’m not speaking about just Biden. But those times was Obama, then 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.

Trump: 2015.

Zelensky: 2014.

Vance: 2014 and 2015.

Trump: 2014. I was not here.

Zelensky: But during 2014 ’til 2022.(…) 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. In 2019, I signed with him the deal I signed with him, Macron and Merkel. We signed cease-fire, cease-fire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him. Gas contract. Gas contract. But after that, he broken the cease-fire. 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, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?

Vance: I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.

Vance: Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have man power problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.

Zelensky: Have you ever been to Ukraine? You say what problems we have.

Vance: I have been to—

Zelensky: Come once.

Vance: I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people into your military?

Zelensky: We have problems. I will answer.

Vance: And do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?

Zelensky: A lot of questions. Let’s start from the beginning.

Vance: Sure.

Zelensky: First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future.

Trump: You don’t know that.

Zelensky: God bless, you will not have a war.

Trump: Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.

Zelensky: I’m not telling you.

Trump: Because you’re in no position to dictate that. Remember this: You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good.

Zelensky: You will feel influence. I’m telling you.

Trump: We’re going to feel very good and very strong.

Zelensky: You will feel influence.

Trump: You’re right now not in a very good position.

Trump: You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. And he happens to be right about. You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us you start having cards.

Zelensky: I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m very serious. I’m the president in a war—

Trump: You’re playing cards. You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. 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 said they should have.

Vance: Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? 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 United States of America and the president who is trying to save your country.

Zelensky: Please. You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you—

Trump: He’s not speaking loudly. He’s not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble. Wait a minute.

Zelensky: Can I answer?

Trump: No. No. You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.

Zelensky: I know. I know.

Trump: You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. 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’ve been alone, and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet, and only in this cabinet.

Trump: You haven’t been alone. We gave you through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment. And your men are brave. But they had to use our military. If you didn’t have our military equipment—

Zelensky: You invited me—

Trump: If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.

Zelensky: In three days. I heard it from Putin: in three days.

Trump: Maybe less.

Zelensky: This is something, in two weeks. Of course. Yes.

Trump: It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. I tell you.

Vance: Just say thank you.

Zelensky: I said it a lot of times thank you to the American people.

Vance: Accept that there are disagreements. And let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.

Trump: But you see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful.

Zelensky: I am thankful.

Trump: You don’t have the cards. You’re buried there, your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers.

Zelensky: Don’t, please, Mr. President.

Trump: Listen. You’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, ‘I don’t want a cease-fire. I don’t want a cease-fire. I want to go, and I want this.’ Look, if you could get a cease-fire right now, I’d tell you, you take it. So the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.

Zelensky: Of course we want to stop the war.

Trump: But you’re saying you don’t want a cease-fire.

Zelensky: But I said to you, with guarantees.

Trump: I want a cease-fire, because you’ll get a cease-fire faster than an agreement.

Zelensky: Ask our people about cease-fire, what they think—

Trump: There wasn’t with me. That wasn’t with me. That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person. That was with Obama.

Zelensky: It was your president.

Trump: Excuse me. That was with Obama, who gave you sheets, and I gave you javelins.

Zelensky: Yes.

Trump: 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 don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us, you don’t have any cards.

It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.

Reporter: What if Russia breaks cease-fire? What if Russia breaks peace talks? What do you do then? I understand that it’s a heated conversation?

Trump: What are you saying?

Vance: She’s asking: What if Russia breaks the cease-fire?

Trump: What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? OK? What if they broke it? I don’t know, they broke it with Biden because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t 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 where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony. That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn’t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, ‘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 didn’t. I don’t know what happened. But he didn’t break them with me. He wants to make a deal. I don’t know if he can make a deal.

The problem is, I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave.

Zelensky: Thank you.

Trump: But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out.

But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position. But you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing.

All right. I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think, huh? This is going to be great television. I will say that. All right. We’ll see what we can do about putting it together. Thank you.

Robert Jimison

Congressional reporter

Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News that President Zelensky should use his scheduled interview with host Bret Baier to apologize and tell the world that he “screwed up big time.” Graham was among several senators who met with Zelensky before his meeting with the president. “I told him this morning, don’t take the bait, don’t let the media or anybody else get you into an argument with President Trump,” he said, adding, “Zelensky is going to have to fundamentally change or go.”

Peter Baker

White House reporter

Graham was sent out to talk with reporters at the White House, so his comments can reasonably be taken as a message from Trump.

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Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

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Tim Balk

President Zelensky issued a statement on social media thanking the United States and President Trump. “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,” he wrote, then he thanked Trump. While berating Zelensky earlier at the White House, Trump had told the Ukrainian president, “You’re not acting at all thankful.”

Doug Mills

White House photographer

President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine were supposed to sign an agreement here in the East Room of the White House today for the United States to share in Ukraine’s rare mineral wealth. But the ceremony was canceled after a heated exchange between Trump, Zelensky and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

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