President Donald Trump on Friday said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants a battlefield victory more than he wants an end to the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy was at the White House Friday for a meeting with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance that devolved into antipathy that derailed a scheduled new conference about a proposed deal over Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
Trump offered his justification for his anger with Zelenskyy as he left the White House Friday night for Mar-a-Lago.
“We had a meeting today as you know with Zelenskyy, and I would say it didn’t work out exactly great from his standpoint. I think he very much overplayed his hand,” Trump in a video clip of some of his comments that was posted to YouTube by the Associated Press.
“We’re looking for peace. We’re not looking for somebody that’s going to sign up a strong power and then not make peace because they feel emboldened, and that’s what I saw happening,” Trump said.
“I’m looking for peace. We’re not looking to go into a 10-year war and play games. We want peace. It was just my impression that if we do that, if we sign up, he’s looking for something that I’m not looking for. He’s looking to go on and fight, fight, fight. We’re looking to end the death, Trump said.
In the interview clip, Trump said Zelenskyy “says he wants it now. He wants to come back right now, but I can’t do that. I can’t.”
“They should have an immediate ceasefire,” Trump said.
“That was the other thing. He didn’t want to do about ceasefire. A ceasefire could take place immediately. A contract, if you want to end the war, you sign up an agreement, that’s going to take a period of time. It takes time. I wanted to end immediately,” he said.
“I want a ceasefire now. He says, Oh, I don’t want a ceasefire. Well, all of a sudden, he’s a big shot because he has the US on his side. Either we’re going to end it or let him fight it out. And if he fights it out, it’s not going to be pretty. Because without us, he doesn’t win. Let me tell you,” Trump said, later saying Zelenskyy has “a very weak set of cards.”
“I’m just telling you, you saw what I saw today. That was not a man that wanted to make peace. And I’m only interested if he wants to end the bloodshed,” Trump said.
During his comments, Trump said Zelenskyy needs to focus on ending the war, not Russian leader Vladimir Putin. according to The Hill.
“He’s got to say, ‘I want to make peace,’” Trump said. “He doesn’t have to stand there and say about ‘Putin this, Putin that.’ All negative things. He’s got to say ‘I want to make peace. I don’t want to fight a war any longer.’”
“I just want to get a deal done, and if a deal happens, good. But you can’t embolden somebody that does not have the cards and all of a sudden that person says, ‘Oh, well now I can keep fighting.’ We are not going to keep fighting. We’re going to get the war done, or let them go and see what happens, let them fight it out,” he said.
A transcript of Friday’s Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy indicated that Vance and Zelenskyy began exchanging words and then Trump joined in.
Vance said Trump was trying to end the fighting through diplomacy, prompting Zelenskyy to speak about Russian incursions into Ukraine, ending his comment with “What kind of diplomacy, J.D., you are speaking about? What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance said, before telling Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
From there, the meeting went downhill until angry words took over, with Trump saying as the meeting wound down, “The problem is, I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States.”
“But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out. But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position. But you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing,” Trump said.
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