Zelenskiy’s Blowup With Donald Trump Leaves European Allies Facing Disaster

Disaster was the word European officials used as Volodymyr Zelenskiy's long-sought Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump descended into a reality-TV livestream of raised voices and angry bickering.

The shock deepened as Trump told the Ukrainian president in a social media post to “come back when he is ready for Peace.” Later, Trump allies said there was little chance of a deal to end the war as long as Zelenskiy remains in power.

“Either we're going to end it or let him fight it out,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House Friday evening. “And if he fights it out, it's not going to be pretty, because without us, he doesn't win.”

The blowup left Ukraine facing an open breach with the country that has been its most important ally and arms supplier in its three-year fight against Russia's full-scale invasion. Kyiv's European allies, who've spent weeks trying to talk Trump out of rushing into a quick deal to end the war on Russian President Vladimir Putin's terms, were aghast. 

“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat. “It's up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”

Already scrambling to meet Trump's demands that they take a bigger role in supporting Ukraine's fight and defending themselves against Russia, European leaders now face a stark choice between trying to sustain Kyiv's war effort on their own and making a deal with Trump, possibly at the expense of Zelenskiy's political future.

“It's very difficult to do an economic deal with a leader who doesn't want to do a peace deal,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had a front-row seat on the sofa during the Oval Office blowup, said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The only one laughing here is Putin, according to a European official. Hungary's Viktor Orban, whose model of illiberal democracy is celebrated by Trump and US Vice President JD Vance, delighted in needling Europe and Ukraine further. “Strong men make peace, weak men make war,” he posted on X.

Europe collectively will try to pick up the pieces, but it looks like Trump has made up his mind to sell out Ukraine, one official said, asking not to be identified expressing views that aren't public. Several other European officials called the Oval Office debacle an ambush. 

A day after his own meeting with Trump went better than some had feared, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone with both Trump and Zelenskiy Friday, hoping to ease tensions.

Publicly, most European leaders backed Zelenskiy. 

“Dear Volodymyr, we stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times. We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war,” German conservative leader Friedrich Merz said on social media.

But as they prepared to meet with the Ukrainian leader in the UK Sunday, European officials confronted the question of how to respond if Trump tries to force Ukraine into a peace deal that favors Russia. 

European leaders were still coming to terms with the shock from the stark warnings from American officials a few weeks ago that the US can no longer be counted on to defend countries that have been its closest allies for seven decades. 

Until this year, the US had led the effort to support Ukraine's fight, which has turned into the continent's deadliest conflict since World War II. Now the outlook for Kyiv may be as dark as at any time since Putin sent his tanks across the border three years ago.

“What is needed is an immediate summit between the United States, European states and allies to talk frankly about how we intend to deal with the great challenges of today, starting with Ukraine,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. 

Friday's meeting with Trump had been intended to draw a line under past tensions between the two leaders and bind Ukraine to the US economically as the White House pushed for a peace deal to end Russia's war on its neighbor. 

But after Zelenskiy pushed back against Trump's assertions that Putin could be trusted, along with charges of ingratitude from Vance, the US president's temper flared.

“Attitudes have to change,” Trump said, his voice rising. “Let me tell you, you don't have the cards,” the US president told his guest. “You're gambling with World War III, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country.”

Zelenskiy tweeted later highlighting his gratitude to the US, but the damage was done.

“President Zelenskiy completely mishandled it,” Kurt Volker, former US ambassador to NATO told Bloomberg Television “The goal should have been to cut this off as quickly as possible and get to the actual business.”

Late Friday, Zelenskiy showed little sign of regret. “We want peace,” he told Fox News, saying he's confident he'll be able to salvage his relationship with Trump. “But we can't lose our values, our people. We can't lose our freedom.”

For some in the Trump camp, it was vindication of their long-held suspicions of Zelenskiy. According to one person close to the administration's thinking, the presidency of Joe Biden had spoiled him into expecting the American people would keep funding the war. Zelenskiy is done, the person said. 

But another Trump administration adviser said too much has been invested in trying to reach a deal to end the war to walk away now. Instead, the US is likely to step up the pressure on Kyiv dramatically and avoid dealing with Zelenskiy directly, the adviser said, asking for anonymity to discuss matters that aren't public.

“There may be ramifications,” like an audit of the US aid given to Ukraine so far, said Victoria Coates, vice president at the conservative Heritage Foundation.  “I think you may see some actions like that, but none of it would necessarily preclude any future negotiation.”

Trump had argued that the economic deal, which would give the US a 50% stake in revenues from Ukraine's resources, was the best assurance of American commitment. 

“We're going to have workers there digging, digging, digging,” Trump said. “In that sense we have a deterrent.”

But Kyiv had been seeking guarantees that the US would help ensure Ukraine's security in the event Putin broke a ceasefire deal. The UK and France offered around 30,000 peacekeeping troops but also wanted Trump to commit to back them up if they came under Russian attack.

Trump, pressed first this week by French President Emmanuel Macron and then by Britain's Starmer, refused to be pinned down.

“I don't like to talk about peacekeeping until we have a deal,” he told Starmer. “Right now, we don't have a deal.”

Donald Trump greets Keir Starmer outside the White House on Feb. 27. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg)

Zelenskiy had hoped to get a clearer commitment from his talks Friday, telling Trump it was “not enough.” But never got the chance.

Hopes had been high earlier in the day. Lawmakers and former military officials appearing on Trump-friendly Fox News were supportive of the resources accord hammered out between the US and Ukraine, lining up to remind viewers that Putin was the enemy and “hates this deal.”

That is now off the table, perhaps permanently. “I think the writing is on the wall — what we see is basically Trump being ready to cut Ukraine loose,” said Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian and professor at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies in Europe. He “wants to deliver Zelenskiy's head on a platter to Putin.”