By Steve Holland, Nandita Bose and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump clashed repeatedly on Friday, with Zelenskiy urging Trump to be cautious with Russia and Trump accusing him of being disrespectful, as simmering differences spilled into the open.
The two leaders met in the Oval Office prior to an event at which they were expected to sign a deal for U.S. participation in Ukraine’s mineral industry. But Zelenskiy openly challenged Trump over his softer approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskiy pushed back on Trump’s claims that Ukrainian cities have been reduced to rubble by three years of war. Trump stressed that Putin wants to make a deal.
“You are gambling with World War Three,” Trump told Zelenskiy at one point, urging him to be more thankful.
Vice President JD Vance interjected that it was disrespectful of him to come to the Oval Office to litigate his position, a point Trump agreed with.
“People are dying … you’re running low on soldiers,” Trump told Zelenskiy as their meeting degenerated into a shouting match.
Trump told Zelenskiy he either needed to make a deal or the United States was out.
Zelenskiy urged Trump to make “no compromises with a killer,” referring to Russia’s leader.
Zelenskiy, who gained billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weaponry and moral support from the Biden administration for its fight against Russia, is facing a sharply different attitude from Trump. Trump wants to quickly wind down the three-year war, improve ties with Russia and recoup money spent to support Ukraine.
Earlier, Trump welcomed Zelenskiy on his arrival at the White House before they headed for talks, lunch and then a joint press conference where they were to sign the agreement.
“I hope I’m going to be remembered as a peacemaker,” Trump said.
Trump told Zelenskiy that his soldiers have been unbelievably brave and that the United States wants to see an end to the fighting and the money put to “different kinds of use like rebuilding.”
Trump has adopted a much less committed stance toward European security, a change in tone that has sent shockwaves across Europe and stoked fears in Kyiv and among its allies that it could be forced into a peace deal that favours Russia.
NO SECURITY GUARANTEES IN DEAL
The agreement negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include explicit American security guarantees for Ukraine, a disappointment for Kyiv. Trump says the presence of Americans in business would serve as a form of guarantee.
How much the deal would be worth to the United States is not spelled out. Trump has said he expects to gain hundreds of billions of dollars. Zelenskiy has said he would not sign an agreement that would put his country in debt for generations.
Ukraine would contribute 50% of “all revenues earned from the future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets” to a reconstruction fund jointly owned and managed by the United States and Ukraine.
The agreement does not specify how the funds would be spent, or identify specific assets it covers, though it says they would include deposits of minerals, oil and natural gas as well as infrastructure such as gas terminals and ports.
The Washington talks are a diplomatic boost for Zelenskiy who has repeatedly spoken of the importance of meeting Trump in person before the U.S. president holds talks with Putin.
“The Ukrainians have been quite savvy at turning it round, and using this (the minerals deal) as an opening to engage the U.S.,” said a senior Kyiv-based European diplomat, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Kyiv hopes the agreement will spur Trump to back Ukraine’s war effort, and potentially even win support from Republicans in Congress for a new round of aid.
Ukraine has rapidly expanded its defence industry production but remains heavily reliant on foreign military assistance, while also struggling to replenish manpower as it battles a much larger foe.
While Ukraine repelled Russia’s invasion from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory in 2022, Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukraine and has been slowly taking ground since a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023. Kyiv’s troops hold a chunk of land in Russia’s western Kursk region after a 2024 incursion.
Trump has engaged in a long-distance feud with Zelenskiy in recent weeks, criticizing his handling of the war, calling him a “dictator” and urging him to agree to the minerals deal.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Nandita Bose; Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth, Simon Lewis and Jeff Mason; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk, Colleen Jenkins, Gerry Doyle, Peter Graff and Rod Nickel)
