U.S. officials don't know what will happen next on Ukraine after Trump-Zelenskyy clash
After Friday’s public clash between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. officials say the path to a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine is deeply uncertain — and wholly dependent the Ukrainian leader’s next steps.
WASHINGTON — After Friday’s public clash between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. officials say the path to a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine is deeply uncertain — and wholly dependent the Ukrainian leader’s next steps.
Since the blowup, Trump administration officials have also discussed whether to pause U.S. military aid to Ukraine, according to two administration officials, though it’s unclear whether or when the president would take such a step.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
Zelenskyy was at the White House on Friday to sign a deal with Trump that would cut in the U.S. on money from mining rare earths and other critical minerals in Ukraine after the war with Russia ends. Trump has said the economic deal with the U.S. would serve as a security guarantee for Ukraine against a future Russian invasion like the one that started the war in February 2022. But the deal was never signed and remains in limbo.
Trump’s aides asked Zelenskyy to leave the White House after an Oval Office meeting featuring nearly an hour of remarks and questions from reporters devolved into a spat, which left the president angry and publicly questioning whether the Ukrainian leader wants to negotiate an end to the war.
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