WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House Friday for a high-stakes meeting with President Donald Trump, as he tries to persuade the White House to provide some form of U.S. backing for Ukraine’s security against any future Russian aggression.

Trump greeted Zelenskyy with a handshake. The leaders looked toward journalists and Trump pumped his fist. They did not respond to the shouted questions. Trump and Zelenskyy were scheduled to meet in the Oval Office followed by a lunch meeting and a news conference.

Zelenskyy’s delegation was expected to sign a landmark economic agreement with the U.S. aimed at financing the reconstruction of war-damaged Ukraine, a deal that would closely tie the two countries together for years to come. The deal comes just a few days after the three-year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine.

Trump, Vance call Zelenskyy ‘disrespectful’ in front of media

What happened:

Zelenskyy told Trump that promises of peace from Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted, noting the Russian leader’s history of broken promises. Trump said Putin hasn’t broken agreements with him.

“You’ve got to be more thankful,” Trump told Zelenskyy. He said the Ukrainian leader is “gambling with World War III.”

Trump chided Zelenskyy after Vice President JD Vance, one of the administration’s most skeptical voices on Ukraine, said Zelenskyy was being disrespectful for debating Trump in the Oval Office in front of the American media.

“Have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked Zelenskyy.

The White House also let a reporter from Russian news agency TASS into the Oval Office for the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. The White House said it was a mistake. 

TASS was not on the approved media list, according to the White House, and when the press office learned the reporter was in the Oval Office, he was escorted out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Trump: Zelenskyy ‘is not ready’ for peace

The fallout:

A scheduled joint press conference with both leaders was canceled following the heated exchange in the Oval Office on Friday. 

The pair had planned to sign an agreement before the joint press conference, but Zelenskyy was instead preparing to leave the White House.

Trump also released a statement on his Truth Social account after cutting his meeting with Zelenskyy short, claiming Ukraine’s leader was “not ready for Peace.” 

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that 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. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, responded via Twitter, thanking the president for the meeting and calling for “just and lasting peace.”

Trump talks up economic agreement 

Earlier, Trump told Zelenskyy that Ukrainian soldiers have been unbelievably brave and talked up an economic agreement between their two countries. The deal, which was announced by Trump on Wednesday during his first Cabinet meeting, would allow the U.S. access to Ukraine’s deposits of rare earth minerals, many of which can be used in aerospace defense and nuclear industries. 

“It is a big commitment from the United States,” Trump said. He added that the United States has little of the rare earth minerals that are abundant in Ukraine, and says those resources will support uses in the U.S. including artificial intelligence and military weapons.

This deal is a chance for Kyiv to pay back the U.S. for aid already sent for the war effort during former President Joe Biden’s term, according to Trump.  

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Zelenskyy talked up the prospect for liquid natural gas exports to Europe, but gently disagreed when Trump repeated his claim that Europe “did much less” than the United States to support Ukraine against Russia.

Zelenskyy called Putin a killer and a terrorist and told Trump there should be “no compromises with a killer.” He brought along printed photos to show Trump, but journalists in the room could not see them.

What does the agreement say? 

Dig deeper:

According to the preliminary economic agreement, seen by The Associated Press, the U.S. and Ukraine will establish a co-owned, jointly managed investment fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from natural resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials.

A more detailed agreement on establishing the fund will be drawn up once the preliminary one is signed.

But Zelenskyy has remained firm that specific assurances of Ukraine’s security must accompany any agreement giving U.S. access to Ukraine’s resources. On Wednesday, he said the agreement “may be part of future security guarantees, but I want to understand the broader vision. What awaits Ukraine?”

Trump remained noncommittal about any American security guarantees.

“I’m not going to make security guarantees … very much,” Trump told reporters this week. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”

If a truce can be reached, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to send troops for a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine to ensure that fighting between Ukraine and Russia doesn’t flare up again. Both leaders traveled to Washington this week before the Zelenskyy visit to discuss with Trump the potential peacekeeping mission and other concerns about the war.

Russia and US meeting

What we know:

Russian and U.S. diplomats met on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss normalizing the operation of their respective embassies after years of expelling each other’s diplomats.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks followed an understanding reached during President Donald Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and contact between senior Russian and U.S. diplomats and other officials in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking during Thursday’s meeting of the Federal Security Service, Putin hailed the Trump administration’s “pragmatism and realistic view” compared with what he described as the “stereotypes and messianic ideological cliches” of its predecessors.

“The first contacts with the new U.S. administration encourage certain hopes,” Putin said. “There is a mutual readiness to work to restore relations and gradually solve a colossal amount of systemic strategic problems in the global architecture.”

Putin said that “part of Western elites are still determined to maintain global instability” and could try to “disrupt or compromise the dialogue that has begun,” adding that Russian diplomats and security agencies should focus their efforts on thwarting such attempts.