Zelensky meets Vance for first time since White House row
The Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and JD Vance in February descended into an extraordinary shouting match, and it was all caught on camera.
'I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media ... You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,' the US vice-president told the Ukrainian leader during the heated exchange.
Mr Zelensky then asked Mr Vance if he had ever been to Ukraine, to which the vice-president angrily responded, speaking of 'propaganda tours'.
'You're either going to make a deal or we're out,' a furious Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky, as his Ukrainian counterpart did his best to advocate for his country's fight for survival.
'You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now,' the US president added.
Mr Vance doubled down, asking Mr Zelensky: 'Have you said 'thank you' once this entire meeting? No.'
The acrimonious meeting ended suddenly, with Mr Trump declaring it would make 'great television' and with no deal agreed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
19 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Ukraine says Russia launched 479 drones in war's biggest overnight bombardment
Apart from drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas of Ukraine. Ukraine's air defences destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles in mid-flight, an air force statement said, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target. Officials said one person was injured. It was not possible to independently verify the claim. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that in some areas 'the situation is very difficult' (Markus Schreiber/AP) A recent escalation in aerial attacks has coincided with a renewed Russian battlefield push on eastern and north-eastern parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Sunday that in some of those areas 'the situation is very difficult'. He provided no details. Ukraine is short-handed on the front line against its bigger enemy and needs further military support from its Western partners, especially air defences. But uncertainty about the US policy on the war has fuelled doubts about how much help Kyiv can count on. Two recent rounds of direct peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul have yielded no significant breakthroughs beyond pledges to swap prisoners as well as thousands of their dead and seriously wounded troops. Russia's aerial attacks usually start late in the evening and end in the morning, because drones are harder to spot in the dark. Russia has relentlessly battered civilian areas of Ukraine with Shahed drones during the more than three-year war. The attacks have killed more that 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Russia says it targets only military targets. Ukraine has developed long-range drones that continue to strike deep inside Russia. Journalists gather near the motorcade of refrigerators of the first convoy carrying bodies of Ukrainian soldiers for repatriation at an exchange area near Novaya Guta, Belarus (Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP) Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Monday that it shot down 49 Ukrainian drones overnight over seven Russian regions. Two drones hit a plant specialising in electronic warfare equipment in the Chuvashia region, located more than 600 kilometres east of Moscow, local officials reported. Alexander Gusev, head of Russia's Voronezh region, said 25 drones had been shot down there overnight, damaging a gas pipeline and sparking a small fire. The Ukrainian General Staff claimed special operations forces forces struck two Russian fighter jets stationed at the Savasleyka airfield in Russia's Novgorod region located some 650 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. The statement did not say how the planes were struck.
Leader Live
21 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Ukraine says Russia launched 479 drones in war's biggest overnight bombardment
Apart from drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas of Ukraine. Ukraine's air defences destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles in mid-flight, an air force statement said, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target. Officials said one person was injured. It was not possible to independently verify the claim. A recent escalation in aerial attacks has coincided with a renewed Russian battlefield push on eastern and north-eastern parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Sunday that in some of those areas 'the situation is very difficult'. He provided no details. Ukraine is short-handed on the front line against its bigger enemy and needs further military support from its Western partners, especially air defences. But uncertainty about the US policy on the war has fuelled doubts about how much help Kyiv can count on. Two recent rounds of direct peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul have yielded no significant breakthroughs beyond pledges to swap prisoners as well as thousands of their dead and seriously wounded troops. Russia's aerial attacks usually start late in the evening and end in the morning, because drones are harder to spot in the dark. Russia has relentlessly battered civilian areas of Ukraine with Shahed drones during the more than three-year war. The attacks have killed more that 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Russia says it targets only military targets. Ukraine has developed long-range drones that continue to strike deep inside Russia. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Monday that it shot down 49 Ukrainian drones overnight over seven Russian regions. Two drones hit a plant specialising in electronic warfare equipment in the Chuvashia region, located more than 600 kilometres east of Moscow, local officials reported. Alexander Gusev, head of Russia's Voronezh region, said 25 drones had been shot down there overnight, damaging a gas pipeline and sparking a small fire. The Ukrainian General Staff claimed special operations forces forces struck two Russian fighter jets stationed at the Savasleyka airfield in Russia's Novgorod region located some 650 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. The statement did not say how the planes were struck.
BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Zia Yusuf: Reform UK burka row is 'storm in a teacup'
Former Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has called a row over a social media post - in which he said it was "dumb" for one of his MPs to call for a burka ban - a "storm in a teacup". Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Yusuf said he regretted the post and that "exhaustion led to a poor decision". Shortly after criticising MP Sarah Pochin, Yusuf quit as chairman saying that trying to get Reform UK elected was not "a good use of my time".However, two days later he returned to work for the party albeit in a different role, leading the party's Doge unit, a team inspired by the US Department of Government Efficiency, set up by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The initiative aims to cut wasteful spending in the councils Reform now why he had resigned as chairman, Yusuf said: "I've been working pretty much non-stop, virtually no days off."It is very difficult to keep going at that pace."He said one of the reasons he had "changed his decision so quickly" and returned to work for the party, was that he had been "inundated" by supportive messages from Reform voters and members. The series of events began last Wednesday when Pochin, the newly-elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, asked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer if he would join France and Denmark in banning the burka, a veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the face and body, "in the interests of public safety".The following day Yusuf, who is a Muslim, posted on X: "I do think it's dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do".Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Yusuf said "the thing that frustrated me at the time" was that Pochin had not chosen to ask something that was party for his views on a ban, he said: "If I was an MP I would think about it very deeply, I think I probably would be in favour of banning face coverings in public writ large, not just the burka."I'm very queasy and uneasy about banning things that for example would be unconstitutional in the US but we have a particular situation in the UK."He said he did not believe Islam was "a threat to the country" but added that the UK had "a problem with assimilation". Over the weekend, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was also asked her views on banning the burka. She told the Telegraph: "People should be allowed to wear whatever they want, not what their husband is asking them to wear or what their community says that they should wear."However, she said that organisations should be able to decide what their staff wear and that she asked people coming to her constituency surgeries to remove face coverings "whether it's a burka or a balaclava". "I'm not talking to people who are not going to show me their face," she Muslim Council of Britain accused her of "desperation" adding: "Kemi Badenoch isn't setting the agenda - she's scrambling to keep up with Reform UK's divisive rhetoric."
