Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv rallied around their President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday after clashing with U.S. President Donald Trump and JD Vance at the White House, Reuters reported.
Zelensky openly challenged Trump over his approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin at the meeting, urging him to “make no compromises with a killer.”
The U.S. president accused Zelensky of risking World War III and of being ungrateful to Washington for the military aid provided to Ukraine.
Reuters quoted a HR manager as saying: “Trump finally understood that Zelensky is a president that will not just give up.
“It is not Ukraine that is gambling with World War Three – more likely we are being used in this game as a bargaining chip,” a business consultant, Oskana told the news agency.
On social media, Ukrainian officials and other prominent individuals were also supportive of Zelensky, calling for unity in a country exhausted by three years of war.
“President Zelenskiy has the bravery and strength to stand up for what is right,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who was at the meeting with Trump, wrote on social media.
Some Ukrainians said they were concerned by the breakdown in relations between the two leaders.
“Without the arms supplied by the United States we will not win this war and I do not know what’s going to happen,” a university lecturer told Reuters.
The meeting in Washington was called for the two leaders to sign an agreement that would have shared profits from Ukraine’s critical raw material deposits with the U.S.
But it degenerated into an argumentt in front of the cameras as Trump visibly irritated Zelensky by refusing to condemn Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
“”I think it could have been approached in a more diplomatic way, but from the individual point of view I can understand Zelensky because the tone of the dialogue with Trump and Vance indicated it would end like this,” a student said.
