Zelenskyy’s White House meeting ends in blowup with Trump and Vance over Ukraine’s future

President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were supposed to sign a significant minerals deal with Ukraine and hold a news conference on Friday, but both events were abruptly canceled. The Ukrainian leader’s visit was also cut short after an Oval Office meeting that included Vice President JD Vance descended into chaos and insults.

The U.S. team then remained in the Oval Office, while the Ukrainians left to go to a “separated room,” according to a White House official. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz ordered the Ukrainians to leave the room where they were waiting. According to the official, Zelenskyy requested a reset and was attempting to patch things up, but Mr. Trump and other administration officials were offended by Zelenskyy’s behavior.

The planned signing of a rare minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine was derailed by the controversial meeting, which revealed deep rifts between the two nations as Mr. Trump puts pressure on Ukraine to agree to end the war that Russia started. Throughout the meeting, Vance called the Ukrainian leader “disrespectful,” and Mr. Trump threatened to “we’re out” unless Zelenskyy struck a deal with Russia.

High-level administration sources later told CBS that after the confrontation between Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, there have been talks about whether the United States will continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine.