Ukrainian Ambassador’s Reaction to Zelenskyy’s Volatile Meeting with Trump Goes Viral
The fiery meeting on Friday between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy captured the tense moment when Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova realized the magnitude of the damage done. The viral moment showed Markarova appearing distraught, with her head in her hand, as Trump questioned Zelenskyy about not wanting a ceasefire with Russia in front of the entire world.
Markarova lowered her head to her right hand and closed her eyes as Zelenskyy continued to dig a hole for himself in front of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Trump addressed Zelenskyy, saying, “You’re saying you don’t want a ceasefire. I want a ceasefire because you get a ceasefire faster than an agreement.”
The Ukrainian president responded, “I said to you … with guarantees. Ask our people about [a] ceasefire, [about] what they think.”
Trump immediately halted the conversation, saying, “That wasn’t with me.”
The picture of Markarova’s reaction to the car crash meeting paints a thousand words, demonstrating just how badly Zelenskyy had damaged U.S.-Ukraine relations following his contentious approach to keeping the gravy train going.
The CEO and co-founder of The Federalist published the moment in a post on the social media platform X.
“The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. appears to be the only Ukrainian in the room who understands how much damage Zelensky just did to his own cause,” Davis wrote. The confrontation ultimately ended with Zelenskyy being asked to leave the White House while the pending deal between Washington and Kyiv involving Ukrainian minerals was shelved.
Whatever Markarova was hoping for in terms of the outcome of the meeting, this was perhaps one of her worst nightmares—and it was clearly evident:
Perhaps the most notable and surreal part of the meeting was when Zelenskyy appeared to threaten America with consequences for not meeting his demands.
“[There are] a lot of questions. Let’s start from the beginning. First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you, but you have a nice ocean [in between], and don’t feel it now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless you,” Zelensky told Trump.
As expected, Trump responded with fury:
“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel… because you’re in no position to dictate that,” he said. “Remember this, you’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel good. We’re gonna feel very good and very strong.”
Not long after Zelenskyy was rushed out of the White House, Trump took to Truth Social, writing:
“President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE.”
Zelenskyy later posted to X, thanking America and Trump for their support and allowing the visit—perhaps coming to terms with the reality of what had just transpired.
“Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that,” he wrote in the post.
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