On Feb. 28, Volydyomyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, visited the White House for a televised meeting with President Donald J. Trump in the Oval Office. The goal of this meeting was to discuss continued support of Ukraine by the United States, as well as the signing of a resource treaty that would give the United States access to rare earth minerals in Ukraine.
The conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy started off cordially with the two both talking about their wishes to sign a peace treaty with Russia. In a quote from President Trump, “You’re losing thousands of soldiers. So on both sides we’re losing a lot of soldiers and we want to see it stop and we want to see the money get put to different kinds of use, like rebuilding.” (01:08)
The money extracted from the rare earth minerals would, in part, be given back to Ukraine in the form of a security fund. In a quote from President Trump “… We’re going to be putting some money in a fund that we’re going to be taking and sharing in terms of revenue.”(08:02)
Throughout the meeting, many of Trump’s advisors, along with Vice President J.D Vance had arguments with President Zelenskyy. Because of this, Trump’s advisors asked Zelenskyy to leave. As reported by AP News, President Trump told him that he was “gambling with World War Three” and that the United States had “backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
Following this meeting, as reported by the Washington Post, President Trump canceled further talks, saying Zelenskyy “can come back when he is ready for peace,” in response to Zelenskky refusing peace talks due to Russian aggression towards Europe. In a quote from Zelenskyy, “Yes. Europe is very important for us because we really defend Europe for today, all Europeans are really recognized that we are defending the line and they have real life and our people are dying.” (31:42)
Zelenskyy originally refused any peace with Russia until he had security guarantees from the United States due to Russia previously breaking ceasefires. In a quote from President Zelenskyy, “He (President Vladimer Putin) broke his own signature 25 times ”(23:39)
In response to this meeting, as reported by Ukrinform, many leaders in Europe voiced their support for Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer invited many world leaders, including Zelenskyy, to London on Mar. 2 to discuss support for Ukraine.
The summit was notably attended by French Prime Minister Macron, Italian President Giorgia Melonia, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Treadu, and many other world leaders.
In a quote from the British Prime Minister, “We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” During the meeting, the Prime Minister announced a 1.6 Billion GBP “package” for Ukraine to purchase air-defense systems, in addition to a 2.26 Billion GBP loan announced the day before.
The result of the summit, as reported by the Official website of the President of Ukraine, was continued investments in Ukraine’s domestic arms productions, European defense sector expansion continent-wide, and continued support for Ukrainian security guarantees in case of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Additionally, the British Prime Minister called for a “Coalition of the Willing”, which met in Paris on Mar. 27. As reported by Ukrinform, the meeting’s topic was “the continuation of aid to Ukraine and the discussion of the structure of future security guarantees for Ukraine after the end of the war.”
