Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees
Published 6:05 pm Friday, February 28, 2025
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, early March 21. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees against another offensive.
Zelenskyy added Friday’s contentious spat with President Donald Trump was “not good for both sides.”
But Zelenskyy said that Trump — who insists Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to end the three-year grinding war — needs to understand that Ukraine can’t change attitudes toward Russia on a dime.
The Ukrainian leader left the White House shortly after Trump shouted at him, showing open disdain. Untouched salad plates and other lunch items were being packed up outside the Cabinet room, where the lunch between Trump and Zelenskyy and their delegations was supposed to have taken place.
The White House said the Ukrainian delegation was told to leave.
“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 say they should have,” Trump told Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy’s main objective going into the sit-down had been to press Trump not to abandon his country and to warn against moving too closely to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead he got shouted at while Trump appeared to play up the drama for the cameras.
At one point, Zelenskyy said Putin had broken “his own signature” 25 times on ceasefires and other agreements and could not be trusted. Trump responded that Putin had not broken agreements with him and mostly ducked questions about offering security guarantees to Ukraine, saying he thought the minerals deal — which is now on-hold — would effectively end the fighting.
Things first got testy after Vance challenged Zelenskyy, telling him, “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.” Zelensky tried to object, prompting Trump to raise his voice and say, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.”
At another point, Trump declared himself “in the middle” and not on the side of either Ukraine or Russia in the conflict. He went on to deride Zelenskyy’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.
The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute meeting devolved into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy, who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage.