US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. Zelensky and Trump openly clashed in the White House on February 28 at a meeting where they were due to sign a deal on sharing Ukraine’s mineral riches and discuss a peace deal with Russia. “You’re not acting at all thankful. It’s not a nice thing,” Trump said. “Its going to be very hard to do business like this,” he added. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
The Kremlin has criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his heated Oval Office meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying the Ukrainian president showed a complete lack of diplomatic skills.
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the Russian news agency, Interfax that the exchange was unprecedented, in comments released on Monday.
He said Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had watched Friday’s meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents.
This quickly devolved into a shouting match with Trump accusing Zelensky of being ungrateful for U.S. support to his country.
The talks, held in front of the press, were cut short and the Ukrainian delegation left the White House without signing a planned minerals deal with the United States.
Russian politicians had already reacted mockingly to the showdown, but this was the first reaction from Putin’s office.
Peskov said the talks between Trump and Zelensky had shown how difficult it would be to achieve a peace deal in the conflict.
“The regime in Kiev and Zelensky do not want peace. They want the war to continue,’’ Peskov said, echoing statements made by Trump on Friday.
Zelensky emphasised during the meeting that he wanted to end the war started by Russia.
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.