Ukrainians rally around Zelensky after Oval Office clash with Trump

Ukrainians have rallied around Volodymyr Zelensky as a defender of his country’s interests after an astonishing clash with Donald Trump at the White House.

The shouting match that unfolded in the final minutes of the meeting between the two leaders at the Oval Office on Friday seemed to dash, at least for now, Ukrainian hopes that the US could be confirmed as a reliable partner in helping to fend off, and conclude, Russia’s three-year onslaught.

The exchange saw the frustrated Ukrainian president lectured by Mr Trump and vice president JD Vance over what they saw as his lack of gratitude for previous US support.

Breakdown in relations

It delighted officials in Moscow who saw it as a final breakdown in relations between Washington and the Ukrainian leader.

But many Ukrainians seemed unfazed by the confrontation, expressing a sense that the Ukrainian leader had stood up for their country’s dignity and interests by firmly maintaining his stance in the face of chiding from some of the world’s most powerful men.

Nataliia Serhiienko, 67, a retiree in Kyiv, said Ukrainians approve of their president’s performance in Washington, “because Zelensky fought like a lion”.

“They had a heated meeting, a very heated conversation,” she said, but Mr Zelensky “was defending Ukraine’s interests”.

The meeting at the White House was meant to produce a bilateral agreement to establish a joint investment fund for reconstructing Ukraine, a deal that was seen as a potential step towards bringing an end to the war and tying the two countries’ economies together for years to come.

But as Mr Zelensky and his team left the White House at Mr Trump’s request, the deal went unsigned, and Ukraine’s hopes of securing US security backing seemed farther away than ever.

As two drones struck Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv on Friday night, Oleh Syniehubov, head of the region on the border with Russia, said Mr Zelensky held strong to his insistence that no peace deal could be made without assurances for Ukraine’s security against future Russian aggression.

“Our leader, despite the pressure, stands firm in defending the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians. We need only a just peace with security guarantees,” Mr Syniehubov said.

“Complete disrespect”

Kyiv resident Artem Vasyliev, 37, said he had seen “complete disrespect” from the US in the Oval Office exchange, despite the fact that Ukraine “was the first country that stood up to Russia”.

“We are striving for democracy, and we are met with total disrespect, towards our warriors, our soldiers and the people of our country,” said Mr Vasyliev, a native of Russian-occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

He criticised the US president for what he said was a failure to recognise the human cost of Russia’s invasion, saying Mr Trump “doesn’t understand that people are dying, that cities are being destroyed, people are suffering, mothers, children, soldiers”.

“He cannot understand this, he is just a businessman. For him, money is sacred,” he said.

Ukrainian social media was also awash with praise for Mr Zelensky, with officials on the national, regional and local level voicing their support.

The outpouring resembled a recent surge in Ukrainian unity after Mr Trump made false claims that Ukraine was led by a “dictator” who started the war with Russia — comments that led some of the Ukrainian president’s harshest critics to rally around him.

Hardened

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which was mostly occupied by Russia early in the war but later partially retaken by Ukrainian forces, said three years of war had hardened his country to the ups and downs of the fight to survive.

“We know what pressure is, on the front lines, in politics, in daily struggle,” he said. “It has made us stronger. It has made the president stronger. Determination is the force that drives us forward. And I am confident that we will endure this time as well.”

“Unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s interests and devotion to his country. This is what we saw today in the United States. Support for the President of Ukraine,” vice prime minister Oleksii Kuleba wrote on Telegram.

But not all Ukraine’s political figures were as full-throated in their praise. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that he hoped “that Ukraine does not lose the support of the United States, which is extremely important to us”.

“Today is not the time for emotions, from either side. We need to find common ground,” he wrote on Telegram.