Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called his Oval Office spat with President Donald Trump “regrettable” in a statement aimed at rekindling relations between Ukraine and the United States after Trump paused aid.
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive,” Zelensky said.
“Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively,” he added.
Zelensky also reiterated his gratefulness for Trump’s support, saying that “the moment things changed [was] when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins,” referring to a handheld anti-tank weapon. Trump had stressed his supply of the weapons to Ukraine at the Oval Office meeting, crediting it to Ukraine’s success in the initial stages of the war.
Zelensky proposed the first steps in a peace deal with Russia, saying, “We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.”
While falling short of an apology, which Trump administration officials had requested, the statement marks a distinct change in tone. Zelensky said he didn’t think there was anything to apologize for in a Fox News interview shortly after the Oval Office spat, and he appeared to reiterate that since.
Trump condemned Zelensky’s rhetoric on Monday in a post on Truth Social after the Ukrainian president said the end of the war with Russia was “very, very far away.”
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer! It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelensky, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. — Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?” he wrote.
A U.S. defense official confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Monday that the U.S. halted all further military aid to Ukraine after an Oval Office spat between Trump, Zelensky, and Vice President JD Vance upended U.S.-Ukraine relations. The halt began immediately.
An official speaking with Bloomberg said the halt would include aid currently in transit and that it would only be lifted when Trump determined that Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders demonstrated a good-faith commitment to peace.
Zelensky rallied European support after the Friday meeting, receiving statements of support from nearly every European leader.
Despite European leaders’ strong statements of support, their reliance on the U.S. was illustrated on Sunday when a conference between Zelensky and European leaders in London ended in the leaders insisting that any security guarantee needed American backing, which Trump indicated was off the table.
