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Zelensky says he can salvage relationship with US
Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine would not concede any territory to Russia as part of a peace deal. He said he was still willing to sign a minerals deal with the US and described a discussion on Sunday with European leaders to send a draft peace plan to the US as a key development.
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US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. Zelensky and Trump openly clashed in the White House on February 28 at a meeting where they were due to sign a deal on sharing Ukraine's mineral riches and discuss a peace deal with Russia. (AFP/ Saul Loeb)
U
kraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he believed he could salvage his relationship with US President Donald Trump after their explosive meeting in the Oval Office, but that talks needed to continue behind closed doors.
Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine would not concede any territory to Russia as part of a peace deal. He said he was still willing to sign a minerals deal with the US and described a discussion on Sunday with European leaders to send a draft peace plan to the US as a key development.
In an extraordinary meeting that was broadcast live on Friday, Trump accused Zelensky of being ungrateful for US aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War Three, casting into doubt Washington's ongoing support for Ukraine in its three-year-long war with Russia.
Zelensky spoke to reporters at a London airport after a summit with European leaders in London on Sunday. While he seemed in good spirits and thanked European countries for their support, the Ukrainian leader was careful to balance his dismay with the events of Friday's Oval Office meeting with a clear desire to keep talking with Washington.
Zelensky said he did not think the US would stop its assistance to Ukraine, because as "leaders of the civilized world" they would not want to help Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But he said he remained prepared for any outcome.
"As regards salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue," Zelensky told reporters via a translator after the London summit.
But he added: "I do not think it's right when such discussions are totally open. ... The format of what happened, I don't think it brought something positive or additional to us as partners."
A visibly shaken Zelensky arrived in London on Saturday where he was met with a warm embrace from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and by cheering supporters around Downing Street.
At the summit on Sunday Starmer said European leaders had agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan to take to the US, in the hope that Washington would offer the security guarantees Kyiv says are vital to deter Russia.
Zelensky said Ukraine relied on the US as its top military backer and that stopping the supply of weapons would only help Putin. "The US are ... leaders of the civilized world, and they will not help Putin," he said.
An influential Russian parliamentarian, Konstantin Kosachev, on Sunday derided the hopes for Europe's stepping up to forge a peace plan. "And if Ukraine should count on something, it can only be on progress (if there is any to come) in Russian-American relations," he wrote on Telegram.
