US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should apologise for his actions following a contentious meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House.
Rubio asserted that Zelenskyy’s approach had been unnecessarily combative, leading to a tense confrontation that was witnessed by White House officials, mediapersons, and Ukrainian representatives.
"I do, I do because you guys don't see. You guys only saw the end. You saw what happened today? You don't see all the things that led up to this," said Rubio, when asked about Zelenskyy's refusal to apologise. He stated that Trump has consistently sought an end to the war and believes the conflict should never have begun in the first place.
Rubio added, “We've explained very clearly what our plan is here, which is we want to get the Russians to a negotiating table. We want to explore whether peace is possible.”
He revealed that tensions had been building for over ten days due to complications in communications with Ukraine, including public statements made by Zelenskyy.
Also read: Either make a deal or we’re out: USA’s Ukraine siphon fails
He said the Ukrainian delegation had insisted on coming to Washington despite the deal being ready for signing five days earlier.
"This agreement could have been signed five days ago, but they insisted on coming to Washington. And it was a very and should have been a very clear understanding, don’t come here and create a scenario where you’re going to start lecturing us about how diplomacy isn’t going to work."
The Oval Office meeting reportedly started on a cordial note, with warm handshakes and Trump describing Zelenskyy as a "great guy." However, tensions escalated when Zelenskyy questioned Vance about the administration’s approach to diplomacy. Rubio described the exchange as the moment "things went off the rails."
Vance accused Zelenskyy of "litigating" in front of the press and criticised his past engagements with Democrats during the 2024 election campaign.
Trump, visibly irked, called Zelenskyy "disrespectful" and demanded gratitude for US support, stating, "You don’t have the cards. You are either going to make a deal or we're out and if we are out, you will fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty."
The meeting was originally scheduled for the signing of a joint US-Ukraine fund investing in Ukraine’s rare-earth mineral extraction sector, a key component in the production of advanced technology. However, the deal was overshadowed by the heated exchange between the leaders.
Rubio maintained that Zelenskyy’s actions had set back Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts, saying, "The way you bring it to an end is you get Russia to the table to talk, and he understands that attacking Putin, no matter how anyone may feel about him personally, forcing the president into a position where you’re trying to go to him into attacking Putin, calling him names, maximalist demands about Russia having to pay for the reconstruction, all the sorts of things that you talk about in a negotiation when you start talking about that aggressively and the president’s a dealmaker."
He further accused the Ukrainian leader of actively undermining peace efforts and wasting valuable time, saying, “It was a meeting that was going to end the way it did.”
With diplomatic relations between Washington and Kyiv strained after the altercation, it remains to be seen how Ukraine will navigate its alliance with the US moving forward.
Also read: Zelenskyy 'thanks' POTUS after oval office clash with Trump
Follow us
