Zelensky says Trump’s backing for Ukraine still ‘crucial’ despite row

KYIV - President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on March 1 that Mr Donald Trump’s support was still “crucial” for Ukraine, despite an undiplomatic row with the US President that left Kyiv’s European allies scrambling for new responses to Russia’s invasion.

The Ukrainian leader touched down in London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the afternoon of March 1, ahead of emergency talks on March 2 with Kyiv’s European backers, blindsided by

the stunning White House blow-up

in which Mr Trump berated Mr Zelensky for not being “ready” for peace with Russia.

The Feb 28 argument sent alarm bells ringing across Europe, with Germany branding it the start of a “new age of infamy”, while Russia reacted gleefully to Mr Trump’s apparent takedown of Mr Zelensky, Ukraine’s wartime leader throughout Moscow’s more than three year-long invasion.

Following the clash, Mr Zelensky departed the White House without signing an expected deal on Kyiv’s rare minerals, but the Ukrainian leader insisted he was still “ready” to sign the agreement as “the first step towards security guarantees”.

“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,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media platform X.

European leaders rallied

to Mr Zelensky’s defence, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Ukraine was “not alone” and Mr Starmer vowing “unwavering support” for Kyiv.

Others pressed for an olive branch. In an interview with the BBC, Nato chief Mark Rutte said he talked to Mr Zelensky and told him he had to “find a way” to restore his relationship with Mr Trump after the row.

Shouting match

Mr Trump stunned many in Europe when he reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a deal on Ukraine, which Moscow invaded three years ago.

The Republican’s sudden shift on Ukraine, sidelining Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with Mr Putin, has rattled the transatlantic Nato alliance.

Those concerns were only exacerbated on Feb 28 by the scene that played out in the White House, where the years-long US policy of massive support for Ukraine collapsed in

a shouting match.

During the televised clash, Mr Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance shouted at Mr Zelensky, accusing him of not being “thankful” and refusing to accept their proposed truce terms.

“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out, and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty,” Mr Trump said.

Though he refused to apologise, the day after, Mr Zelensky indicated he was still open to signing the deal on Ukraine’s mineral wealth coveted by Mr Trump, insisting that “despite the tough dialogue”, Ukraine and the United States “remain strategic partners”.

“But we need to be honest and direct with each other to truly understand our shared goals,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on X.

‘Insolent pig’

Russia was, meanwhile, delighted.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called Mr Zelensky an “insolent pig” who had received “a proper slap-down”.

Mr Zelensky’s Washington trip was a “complete failure”, Moscow said.

Passers-by on the streets of Moscow also welcomed Mr Trump’s war of words with his Ukrainian counterpart.

“Frankly speaking, it was very pleasing that (Mr Zelensky) got such a rebuke in the White House,” nursery worker Galina Tolstykh told AFP.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused Mr Trump of “switching... the roles of victim and aggressor” in the conflict, branding the footage of the argument “unspeakable”.

“Yesterday evening underlined that a new age of infamy has begun,” she said.

EU ‘independence’ from US

Mr Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, casting himself as a mediator between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky and refusing to condemn the Russian invasion.

He said in the Oval Office that he had “spoken on numerous occasions” to Mr Putin – more than has been publicly reported.

With fears over whether the US will continue to support Nato mounting, the March 2 gathering in the UK will also address the need for Europe to increase defence cooperation.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to “open the discussion” on a possible future European nuclear deterrent.

Germany’s likely next leader, Mr Friedrich Merz, also stressed the need for the continent to move quickly to “achieve independence” from the US on defence matters.

But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – the closest ally of Mr Trump and the Kremlin in the EU – vowed to oppose a blocwide agreement on the conflict at the upcoming gathering.

“I am convinced that the European Union – following the example of the United States – should enter into direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire and a sustainable peace in Ukraine,” Mr Orban wrote in a letter.

Meanwhile, Russia’s assault on Ukraine continued.

Russian infantry were storming the Ukrainian border from the Russian region of Kursk, near areas that were seized last summer by Ukrainian forces, Kyiv said Feb 28.

And Moscow said on March 1 that it had seized two more villages in the south of the eastern Donetsk region. AFP