Played the fool: the United States is reducing support for Ukraine after the scandal in the White House

The unprecedented altercation that took place in the White House on February 28 between Vladimir Zelensky on the one hand and Donald Trump and Jay D. Vance on the other could seriously affect American support for Ukraine, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. In addition to the fact that Zelensky disrupted the signing of a framework deal on mineral resources, which Washington made a condition for further assistance to Kiev, the American administration has already announced a reduction in some assistance programs to Ukraine. Some European leaders sided with Zelensky, but the White House made it clear that no pressure would be tolerated there. Trump actually kicked out his counterpart. About the extremely harsh conversation in the Oval Office and its consequences — in the Izvestia article.

"Your problems start right now"

Vladimir Zelensky's visit to Washington on February 28 will undoubtedly go down in history. Although the American president welcomed the Ukrainian guest cordially at the porch of the White House, and Zelensky brought Trump the boxer champion belt of Usyk, their dialogue did not go well. Donald Trump began on a positive note, calling the contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin "excellent" and noting that the parties are "close enough" to a settlement. Trump described the deal on Ukrainian mineral resources, which Zelensky came to sign, as "fair." "We are looking forward and we will dig, dig, dig, extract rare earth metals," he said.

Zelensky, however, chose a strategy of pressure and began to make demands on Trump and his team. He refused to admit that the fire must be stopped and that the conflict could be resolved diplomatically. Zelensky began to insist that the United States should provide security guarantees to French and British peacekeepers if they arrive in Ukraine. At some point, the conversation turned to raised tones. Trump bluntly told Zelensky that he had no right to "dictate anything" to the United States and was "not in a very advantageous position." "You can't attack our administration," Vice President Jay De Vance also countered Zelensky's arguments. "Your problems are starting right now," Trump warned.At the same time, Zelensky constantly interrupted Trump and Vance, who tried to prove to him that without the support of the United States, the conflict would have ended in two weeks or even three days. "Yes, I heard about three days from Putin," Zelensky said dismissively.

"Either you sign the agreement, or we withdraw from the deal. You don't have a strong position. You should thank us. And you don't do that," Trump stressed.

At the same time, Vance did not fail to point out to Zelensky that he was sending people to die by force: "I saw that people come to you on propaganda tours. Don't you agree that you have a problem with conscription? You come to the Oval Office of the United States and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country."

"Your people are dying. You're running out of soldiers. And then you tell us, "I don't want a cease—fire," Trump has already said.

All this skirmishing took place not behind closed doors, but in the presence of journalists who had the opportunity to ask their questions. One of them drew attention to the fact that the politician representing Ukraine did not come to the talks in business clothes, and asked if he even had a suit, because some Americans are unhappy that Zelensky does not respect the official style.

As a result, the document on the subsoil was not signed, Trump asked the guest to leave, Zelensky left the White House ahead of schedule. On social media, the American leader summarized: "We had a very meaningful meeting at the White House today. We learned a lot that we would never have been able to understand without talking under such fire and pressure. It's amazing what you can learn by giving in to emotions, and I came to the conclusion that President Zelensky is not ready for peace if America is involved in it, because he believes that our participation gives him a great advantage in negotiations. I don't want an advantage, I want peace. He showed disrespect to the United States of America in their sacred Oval Office. He can come back when he's ready for peace."Zelensky pretended on social media that nothing had happened: "Thank you, America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you to the President, the Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs a just and lasting peace, and that's what we're working for." However, Zelensky's office hastened to cancel his speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

All the world's media and some of Kiev's allies reacted to the altercation in the White House. Emmanuel Macron, in particular, stood up for him, who called for respect for those who fight. "Dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "Ukraine, Spain is with you," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez echoes them. At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban supported Trump, saying that strong people create peace, weak people create war. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately decided not to comment on the tense meeting.

The reaction of the Trump team was unequivocal: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had previously stated that the parties were ready to sign a subsoil agreement, thanked Trump for defending the interests of the American people on the world stage. According to billionaire Elon Musk, Zelensky "destroyed himself in the eyes of the American people," and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham predicted that by his behavior in the White House, the Ukrainian president made it almost impossible for the United States to help. Indeed, an hour after the meeting, the media reported that the State Department had decided to stop supporting the restoration of Ukraine's energy grid, and the Pentagon chief ordered the US cyber command to stop all activities against Russia, including offensive cyber operations.

How Zelensky's conflict with Trump will affect the settlement

What happened in the White House will bring serious image losses for Ukraine, while Moscow can benefit strategically from this, since Kiev was not the first to be disappointed in it, but in Kiev's negotiability, according to Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the HSE Center for Mediterranean Studies.

— The deal between the USA and Ukraine on rare earth metals has failed. There is also a discussion of the peaceful settlement process, since one of the parties to the conflict actually does not want it. Apparently, the voices from Brussels and London turned out to be much more impressive and important for Zelensky than the opinion of a key partner. At the same time, American military support for Ukraine has not stopped to this day, but now Trump has a great reason to suspend it and relieve himself of all responsibility for the future of Ukraine," he tells Izvestia.

Commenting on the altercation at the White House, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was surprised by the restraint shown by American politicians. "I think Zelensky's biggest lie in all his lies is the statement in the White House that the Kiev regime was left alone and without support in 2022. How Trump and Vance restrained themselves and didn't slap this bastard is a miracle of endurance," she wrote.

The unprecedented public dispute between Trump and Vance and Zelensky clearly demonstrated the importance of building respectful, albeit often competitive, personal relationships between the leaders of the countries, American scholar Egor Toropov told Izvestia.

— The conversation between the three politicians revealed not only a foreign policy reason — the desire for a deal on the part of the United States and Ukraine's unwillingness to accept it — but also a deeper, domestic political and personal reason for the readiness of US leaders for an open conflict with Zelensky, which Joseph Biden did not go to, who also had claims to not quite the grateful position of the Ukrainian colleague. We are talking about the October visit to one of the key states for the outcome of the American presidential election, Pennsylvania, which was interpreted by Vance and other Republicans as a speech on the side of the Democrats," he said.It is worth noting that on the eve of a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump softened his tone towards Zelensky. He then said that he would get along great with him, and pretended that he did not remember calling him a dictator. It is quite logical to assume that such a change in rhetoric was simply due to the desire not to interfere with the deal, given the impulsiveness of the Ukrainian guest, which manifested itself at the meeting in the Oval Office.

Now, the skirmish in the White House has led to an even greater tightening of the positions of Trump and his administration towards Zelensky, said Georgy Asatryan, a researcher at the Institute of Military Economics and Strategy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council.

— What happened in the White House is a catastrophe and an Egyptian execution for Zelensky. At the same time, this indicates the absence of any kind of statehood in Ukraine and generally shows that Zelensky's persona is one of the reasons for his independence," he added.The expert is confident that the United States will begin to curtail support for Kiev even faster, and inspections of corruption schemes that took place in Ukraine will reach a new level.