LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he believed he could salvage his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump after their explosive meeting in the Oval Office, but that talks needed to continue behind closed doors.
In an extraordinary meeting that was broadcast live on Friday, Trump accused Zelenskiy of being ungrateful for U.S. aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War Three, casting into doubt Washington’s ongoing support for Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, talking to reporters after a summit with European leaders in London on Sunday, said he did not think the U.S. would stop its assistance to Ukraine, because as “leaders of the civilized world” they would not want to help Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Zelenskiy said he remained prepared for any challenges that may arise. “As regards to salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue,” he told reporters via a translator after the London meeting.
But he added: “I do not think it’s right when such discussions are totally open. … The format of what happened, I don’t think it brought something positive or additional to us as partners.”
Zelenskiy added that he remained ready to sign the proposed minerals deal with the United States, and that he believed the U.S. would be ready as well.
I’m more and more convinced the Trump administration is not negotiating in good faith. I don’t believe the minerals thing was anything other than something Trump thought Zelenskyy would never be able to say ‘yes’ to. Trump doesn’t want to support Ukraine, but he also needs to find enough of an excuse to save some semblance of face. So when Zelenskyy indicated the minerals deal could be done, with modifications, Trump/Vance cooked up that cowardly shitshow to try and paint Zelenskyy as unreasonable in order to give them enough of an excuse to walk away.
I understand why Zelenskyy is desperate for US support but I’m pretty much certain at this point it won;t be forthcoming. Even if Starmer/Macron et al persuade the two of them to re-meet it’ll just be something else next time.
The US, as a political force supporting stability and peace is no more. Its time the rest of the world accepted that and moved on because its not outside the realm of possibility that a US/Russian political/military alliance might exist relatively soon and we might need to be ready for that.
We supplied less than 100 billion in aid and he asked for 500 billion in return. Their countries GDP is less than half of that. There was no way it was ever in good faith. So during more than 2 years of war, the U.S. spent the equivalent of 4% of it’s defense budget helping defend Europe against an invasion. What is the point of spending so much on our military if it isn’t to have the soft power created by it. If we aren’t going to defend other countries, we should be demanding an 80% reduction in military spending. That would make it so we could fill social securities pockets easily. He’s going to give all foreign influence/respect up anyways, why not do it immediately and actually start clearing debt.