BUFFALO, NEW YORK (THE WORLD TELEGRAM NEWS) – Ukraine's President Zelenskyy is in London for a European Summit, after a tense exchange with United States President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday.
Leaders across Europe and North America gathered in London for a summit titled "Securing our Future", after a tense exchange with United States President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday. The meeting started with a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said "You have full backing across the United Kingdom. We stand with you with Ukraine for as long as it may take. And to achieve what we both want to achieve; a lasting peace.", adding in a post to X, "It was an honour to welcome @ZelenskyyUa to Downing Street and reiterate my unwavering support for Ukraine. I am determined to find a path that ends Russia's illegal war and ensures a just and lasting peace that secures Ukraine’s future sovereignty and security. Slava Ukraini.".
Ukraine and the United Kingdom signed a loan agreement to fund weapons production in Ukraine, which will be repaid using frozen Russian assets in the country. President Zelensky, praised the move, saying "This is true justice – the one who started the war must be the one to pay."
Other European (and European-aligned) nations reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Ukraine during the meeting, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing punitive measures, adding “We won’t allow Russia’s enablers to prolong this illegal invasion.”.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof stressed Europe’s responsibility in safeguarding its security, asserting, “A united Europe is now more important than ever… We have to do this together.”, with Finnish President Alexander Stubb echoing the PM Schoof's urgency, calling the London meeting “a useful meeting… to strengthen Ukraine's position and promote a just and sustainable peace.”
Click below to get the full context behind this story.
The Context
The Context: Ukraine's Zelenskyy met with President Trump and Vice President Vance at the White House to talk about a potential deal that would grant the United States access to Ukraine's mineral resources, including rare earth elements, oil and natural gas. In return, the US will help Ukraine rebuild the country through a reconstruction fund. Some critics of the deal believed it to be one-sided, saying it disadvantaged Ukraine, while other critics said that rebuilding Ukraine would cost far more than the resources offered.
Since the start of the second Trump administration, the United States has isolated itself from many of its allies by changing its view on supporting Ukraine. After being confirmed, Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth spoke about what that would look like to a joint meeting of NATO, saying "...we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective."
2014 was the year that Russia invaded, occupied and annexed Crimea in a move backed by pro-Russian separatists. He later added, "the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission, and they should not be covered under article five. As part of any security guarantee, there will not be any US troops deployed to Ukraine."
Article 5 says that if one member is attacked, all members will treat it as an attack on them. They will help in any way they think is needed, including using military force. It has only been used once but discussed in other situations. This attitude aligns with President Trump's slow withdrawal of blanket support to Ukraine, most recently culminating in the US voting against a UN resolution to condemn Russia over the invasion. Concerns have since grown over whether these policy shifts were a move that would put the United States as a sympathizer to Russia. President Trump responded in Friday's conference saying "If I didn't align myself with both of them (Russia and Ukraine), we'd never have a deal." adding, "I'm not aligned with Putin, I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America, and for the good of the world.".
President Trump later characterized Zelenskyy as having "tremendous hatred" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that it made it harder to negotiate a deal between the two nations. Vice President Vance chimed in, criticizing the policy of the Biden Administration, saying "We've tried the pathway of thumping our chests, and pretending that the President of the United States' words mattered more than the President of the United States' actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy, and that's what President Trump is doing."
President Zelenskyy pushed back, noting the conversations between Ukraine and Russia post-2014 resulting in the Minsk Agreement of 2019 (referred to as the Steinmeier Formula), agreeing upon a "full and comprehensive ceasefire." overseen by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Macron, of Germany and France respectively. Zelenskyy added,"after that he broke the ceasefire, he killed our people, and he didn't exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. But He didn't do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?"
Vice President Vance said he found those comments disrespectful, adding "Right now you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the President for trying to bring an end to this conflict."
The conversation, which descended into a headed threeway exchange between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and President Zelenskyy erupted after Zelenskyy responded saying, "During the war, everybody has problems. Even you. But you have [unintelligible] and don't feel (it) now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless, you won't have war.", which President Trump responded sharply with "you're in no position to dictate what we're gonna feel. We're gonna feel very good, and very strong.", adding, "You don't have the cards, with us you start having the cards. You're gambling with the lives of milions of people, you're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, that's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have."
A reporter followed the exchange with another question, asking what would happen if President Putin broke the ceasefire agreement, to which President Trump responded "what if anything? what if a bomb drops on your head right now?".
The meeting was then cut short, with Zelenskyy leaving the office with no deal signed. Zelenskyy later posted on X, saying "We are very grateful to the United States for all the support. I’m thankful to President Trump, Congress for their bipartisan support, and American people. Ukrainians have always appreciated this support, especially during these three years of full-scale invasion. America’s help has been vital in helping us survive, and I want to acknowledge that. Despite the tough dialogue, we remain strategic partners. But we need to be honest and direct with each other to truly understand our shared goals. It’s crucial for us to have President Trump’s support. He wants to end the war, but no one wants peace more than we do. We are the ones living this war in Ukraine. It’s a fight for our freedom, for our very survival.As President Reagan once said, “Peace is not just the absence of war.” We’re talking about just and lasting peace—freedom, justice, and human rights for everyone. A ceasefire won’t work with Putin. He has broken ceasefires 25 times over the last ten years. A real peace is the only solution."
The tone from the White House was different, with a post with just two words, "America First", implying the administration was championing this exchange as a fight to put America's interests first.
After Friday's heated exchange, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X saying "The United States will be ready to re-engage when Ukraine is ready to make peace, which is clearly what @POTUS's goal is." on Sunday. Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth posted in a separate post to X, adding, "The President’s desire to end the bloodshed in Ukraine will not be deterred.". Vice President Vance also posted on X referring to Friday's exchange, saying "The bitter irony of America’s present predicament is that the very people who cheer for permanent arms shipments to Ukraine also supported the de-industrialization of America. The very things you want us to send are things we don’t make enough of."
This meeting between European nations comes a day after comments from Senator Lindsey Graham, who said "To the hand-wringing Europeans who felt offended by President Trump rejecting being lectured by President Zelensky: Be my guest to defend Ukraine from Putin. It is long past time for the Europeans to show they are capable of defending their own continent. They’ve allowed their militaries to be hollowed out and when Europe speaks, no bad guy listens. I say this with great sadness: The last group of people that I would count on to defend freedom are the Europeans."
