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A defiant but tactful President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to apologise to Donald Trump after Friday’s spat in the White House, and declared that the row in the Oval Office “did not bring anything positive” to peace for Ukraine.
Speaking to journalists only in Ukrainian at the end of a two-day visit to the UK, the president said that when such delicate negotiations are held in public “foes can take advantage of them” though he said he hoped the row would eventually pass.
The Ukrainian leader would not say whether he believed he had been ambushed when he was berated by the US president and the vice-president, JD Vance, and insisted he would talk to Trump again if “invited to solve the real issues”.
However, when he was asked if would go back to the White House to “try again” to obtain clearcut US support in talks to end the three-year war with Russia, Zelenskyy said sharply he hadn’t “come to try” on his most recent visit.
He added: “I travelled in the train for 12 hours, then for 11 hours I flew because the president of the US invited me. The US is one of our main partners, and for me it is a show of respect to be in the White House when the president of the US invites me.”
Zelenskyy was speaking just before flying out of the UK, which came immediately after the disastrous White House meeting on Friday, where he was accused of not being grateful for US military support and told Ukraine could not win the war.
The Ukrainian leader said that were no communications at his level with the White House since the meeting, but said that a deal for the US to jointly exploit minerals in his country was now ready to sign.
He also said that he believed that an Anglo-French-led peace effort, discussed by European leaders in London on Sunday, would bear fruit “in the coming weeks” and indicated there were supportive declarations from other countries – such as Turkey, the Balts and the Nordics – to get involved.
The conference in London also discussed “what security guarantees could be given to Ukraine”, Zelenskyy said, adding that there had “been a very good start” in Sunday’s discussion, and a number of countries would soon “speak for themselves”.
But while he said he was aware of a proposal from France and Britain to for a one-month truce in the fighting, he would not say if he supported it. Speaking at the end of the interview he gave his only answer in English: “I am aware of everything.”
Ukraine “will never” recognise any Russian annexation of territory it occupies, even if it is to try to secure a peace deal, Zelenskyy added, and he repeated that he would only accept a ceasefire if it was followed by robust security guarantees that had the confidence of his country’s people.
Though Russia has said it will insist on incorporating territories that it occupies, for Ukraine it would always be “a temporary occupation”, Zelenskyy insisted, even if his country lacks the military muscle to expel Russia from all of the country at the moment.
Zelenskyy said what he wanted “from partners” – a clear reference to the US White House – was for them to remember that Russia launched the full-scale invasion of his country three years ago. He did not want politicians rewriting history, he said, to suggest “that there are two parties in this war and it is vague who the aggressor is”.
The Ukrainian president appeared to provoke Trump on Friday when he had said that Putin “hates us” and “thinks we are not a nation”. Trump had spoken in Putin’s defence, and appeared to blame Zelenskyy for being embroiled in the war with his larger neighbour.
The Ukrainian leader refused to say what happened after the cameras stopped rolling in the Oval Office on Friday, and before he abruptly left the White House without having lunch or signing the minerals deal. It has been reported that Trump’s team asked Zelenskyy to leave, though the Ukrainian president said it was best “to leave this to history”.
