Donald Trump and JD Vance attack Volodymyr Zelensky in fractious meeting at White House

On Sunday, the Ukrainian President will travel to Downing Street to meet with Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders.

However, yesterday Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump had a fractious and confrontational meeting in the Oval Office.

The pair repeatedly spoke over each other, while US Vice President JD Vance frequently interrupted to call Mr Zelensky “disrespectful”.

In a series of testy exchanges, the Ukrainian President warned the US would “feel it in the future” if it did not continue to support Ukraine.

“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem,” Mr Trump hit back.

Speaking loudly, Mr Trump later told his Ukrainian counterpart: “You’re gambling with millions of people seeing you gambling with World War Three. You’re gambling with World War Three.”

Mr Zelensky said there should be “no compromises” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the negotiation of a peace deal to end the conflict, however this also appeared to anger Mr Trump

He said he was aligned with neither Ukraine nor Russia, telling reporters: “Well, if I didn’t align myself with both of them, you’d never have a deal.

“You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say ‘Hi, Vladimir. How are we doing on the deal that doesn’t work?’ I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody.

While Mr Vance told Mr Zelensky: “Mr President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media.

“Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for bringing an end to this conflict.”

Mr Vance also questioned why Mr Zelensky had not said thank you for US aid during the meeting.

He responded by saying he had and asked the Vice President why he had not visited Ukraine.

After the meeting, Mr Trump posted a statement saying: “President Zelensky is not ready for peace if America is involved ... he disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for peace.”

The meeting came as leaders from across Europe are preparing to gather in London tomorrow, following a week which will have seen Sir Keir, France’s Emmanuel Macron and the Ukrainian president travel for talks with Mr Trump.

Ahead of Sunday’s summit focused on security, the Prime Minister will meet with Mr Zelensky separately. It’s unclear now if this will go ahead, as it was organised on the basis of the Ukrainian President’s minerals deal with Mr Trump.

A Downing Street spokesman said yesterday that “the UK has made it clear that we’ll play our full part in ensuring a just and lasting peace deal on Ukraine’s terms, backed up by strong security guarantees”.

Mr Trump has continued to resist calls to fully commit American military might to guarantee any Ukraine peace deal, but he has suggested closer economic ties and an agreement on mineral access between Kyiv and Washington would effectively act as a security “backstop”.

Sir Keir returned to the UK yesterday following a trip to the White House which went as well as No 10 could have hoped, with Mr Trump clearly pleased with the King’s invitation for an unprecedented second state visit, giving an indication that he would not block the Chagos Islands deal and suggesting a trade deal could spare British exports from US tariffs.

As well as the meeting with Mr Zelensky, Sunday will see the Prime Minister meet separately with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and chair a call with the Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – before hosting the summit.

Mr Zelensky, Mr Macron and Ms Meloni have been invited to the summit along with leaders from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Romania, as well as the Nato secretary general and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.

They will discuss the next steps in planning for security guarantees if a Ukraine peace deal is reached – something Sir Keir believes will have to involve the US.