Zelensky thanks allies in social media flurry after clash with Trump
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump engaged in a heated exchange during a meeting at the White House on Feb 28.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked dozens of allies on social media on March 1, a day after US President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance accused him of not being sufficiently grateful.
Mr Zelensky on X wrote the words “Thank you for your support” in individual replies to around 30 messages of support from European leaders after his heated clash with the new US administration in the White House.
Despite the confrontation, Mr Zelensky earlier thanked Mr Trump, the US Congress and the American people for their support and for his visit.
“Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that,” he wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also thanked his European counterparts in a social media flurry on March 1.
As the Feb 28 White House meeting degenerated, Mr Vance asked Mr Zelensky: “Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire time… in this entire meeting?”
A planned press conference with Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky was then cancelled, and Mr Zelensky was asked to leave.
Despite the clash, Mr Zelensky later told Fox News he believed that “of course” relations with the US could be repaired.
But he refused to apologise, saying: “I’m not sure that we did something bad.”
He did, however, say he wished the exchange had not taken place in front of reporters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on CNN called for Mr Zelensky to “apologise for wasting our time”. AFP
