The anger between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House on Friday was shocking but not entirely unexpected, according to analysts, who see the future of Ukraine more and more uncertain. The US president, Trump, has been criticizing the millionaire help that the United States disbursed to Ukraine after Russia invaded its territory in February 2022. During his campaign, he promised to end the war soon if he won the elections.
Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on February 12, implying that peace negotiations without involving Ukraine were possible, which enraged Kyiv and dislocated the Europeans. Since then, Zelenskyy and Washington’s European allies have asked Trump to offer security guarantees for any truce, in order to guarantee that there will be consequences if any of the parties breaks it. Trump, however, has refused to say if he would provide guarantees, believing that Putin “will fulfill his word” and respect her enough not to break any agreement.
On Friday, tensions exploded over what Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, say is a lack of gratitude from Zelenskyy for US support. “You can return when you are prepared for peace,” Trump said, who threw Zelenskyy out of the White House before a lunch and a planned press conference. Brian Finucane, of the International Crisis Group (ICG), believes that what happened is not “surprising.” “The president’s performance and the vice president in the Oval Office had no precedents,” he said, “but it was not quite surprising given the well-known feelings of President Trump about US military support to Ukraine and the narrative about the Russian war against Ukraine he has promoted.”
When asked, Trump and the members of their administration have repeatedly refused to hold Moscow responsible for the beginning of the conflict. On Friday, the Republican tycoon seemed to imply that he did not criticize Putin because the negotiations were ongoing.
## Sooner or later
Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko declared to AFP that there is a long list of American actions under Trump that indicate that this break was on the horizon. “The way in which the Americans press us, the terms they used to talk about Zelenskyy, from Ukraine a week ago, their attitude towards negotiations, their evaluation of the Russian-Ukrainian war, their attitude towards Russia and Ukraine, the resolution of the United States at the UN is an indicator,” he listed. “All this shows that this breakup, this explosion, had to occur sooner or later,” he added.
What is not clear is what will happen onwards, but it could be a bad omen for Ukraine, said Finucane, of ICG. “There are rumors that the Administration (American) could reduce arms shipments to Ukraine,” currently in progress by the presidential authority, he said. Those arms shipments were approved by former president Joe Biden when he was about to leave office, in what seems an attempt to ensure billions in additional help before Trump assumed.
Speaking to Fox News after the tense meeting at the White House, Zelenskyy acknowledged that it would be “difficult” for Ukraine to contain Russian invading forces without the support of the United States. He added, however, that he believed that Kyiv’s relationship with Washington could redirect, but wants Trump to get “really” on the side of Ukraine.
In Europe, Friday’s trifulca caused alarm, and several powers of the European Union (EU) reiterated their support for Ukraine. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries expressed their support for Kyiv. The head of the EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, made an even more forceful statement, in which she seemed to question the leadership of the United States in the transatlantic alliance between the European powers and Washington. “Today it has been clear that the free world needs a new leader. It depends on us, Europeans, to accept this challenge,” she wrote on social networks.
More than a dozen European leaders will meet Sunday in London to talk about the war in Ukraine. The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, has also summoned for March 6 a special European summit dedicated to Ukraine.