Trump-Zelensky Meeting Implodes, Threatening Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks – WSJ

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left the White House on Friday without signing a proposed mineral-rights deal after a combative exchange with President Trump over how to negotiate a settlement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The two leaders canceled a joint press conference that had been scheduled for later in the afternoon. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office, Trump wrote in a social-media message. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.

Ukraine had sought the meeting to line up U.S. support against Russian aggression, which it hoped to solidify with the minerals agreement. The abrupt ending left unclear how much military and political support the Trump administration was prepared to provide to Kyiv in coming months.

It also muddied the prospects that a European peacekeeping force could be readied to secure a settlement if one is negotiated, since European leaders have signaled that such a deployment would need some form of American military support.

French and British leaders had met with Trump earlier this week to appeal for a U.S. backstop for such a force and set the stage for what they hoped would be a constructive meeting between Zelensky and Trump.

Shortly after leaving the White House, Zelensky sought to reassure Americans and Trump that he appreciated their support.  Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit, he wrote on X Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.

The tensions between Zelensky and Trump burst into the open Friday in the Oval Office as the Ukrainian leader urged the U.S. not to trust Russia President Vladimir Putin and Trump responded that Kyiv needed to accept that it had a weak negotiating hand.

via www.wsj.com

This is bad.