Trump and Vance assail Zelenskyy in White House meeting, cutting his visit short

US President and Vice President berate Ukrainian leader in remarkable Oval Office confrontation

US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday, accusing the Ukrainian leader of not being "thankful" enough for American support in a bitter exchange that played out in front of journalists.

Mr Trump said Mr Zelenskyy was being disrespectful after he pushed for US security commitments to keep his country safe from further Russian aggression. Mr Trump said the Ukrainian leader was in no position to be demanding concessions.

Also read: What did Trump and Vance say to Zelenskyy during their White House fight?

The extraordinary confrontation capped a more than 40-minute White House meeting that was supposed to serve as a prelude to the signing of a rare earth minerals deal.

Shortly after the meeting, Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the Ukrainian President "is not ready for peace" if the US is involved.

"He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for peace,” Mr Trump wrote.

Mr Zelenskyy left the White House an hour later, and the minerals deal signing ceremony that was supposed to be followed by a joint press conference was cancelled.

"You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people," Mr Trump said during the exchange. "You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”

A White House official speaking on background said it was the US President's decision to call off the signing of the minerals deal.

"You got to be more thankful, because, let me tell you, you don't have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don't have any cards," Mr Trump said in the three-way exchange in which the leaders talked over each other.

"You're either going to make a deal or we're out."

Mr Trump's tough stance gathered support among some Republican leaders, who said that the President and Vice President "stood up" for America.

"The death and destruction of the Russian-provoked war needs to stop immediately, and only our American President can put these two countries on a path to lasting peace," House Speaker Mike Johnson said. "President Zelenskyy needed to acknowledge that, and accept the extraordinary mineral rights partnership proposal that President Trump put on the table."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said at the White House: "He [Mr Zelenskyy] either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change."

The breakdown began after Mr Vance told Mr Zelenskyy: “Mr President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

The exchange will be viewed as an unmitigated disaster for European countries that have spent recent weeks on a charm offensive aimed at making Mr Trump more sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause.

After the meeting Mr Zelenskyy appeared to try to strike a conciliatory tone, thanking the American people, though he did not name Mr Trump by name.

"Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you, Congress, and the American people," Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X. "Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that."

He was due to speak at a think tank in Washington later on Friday but the event was cancelled. In a Fox News interview, Mr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees against another offensive.

The exchange left many long-time analysts dumbfounded.

“This is really unusual,” Mark Katz, a professor emeritus at George Mason University and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told The National.

“I mean, usually meetings between heads of states like this are pretty much scripted in advance, and so you wouldn't have something like this," Mr Katz said adding that the meeting is likely to have left European and Nato allies deeply concerned.

“I think it's really bad,” he said.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen wrote on Facebook that the Oval Office exchange was "a punch in the gut for Ukraine."

"There must be room for robust conversations - even between friends. But when it happens in front of rolling cameras like that, there is only one winner. And he sits in the Kremlin," he wrote.

Earlier in the meeting, Mr Trump had said the US would continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, but said he hoped that not too much aid would be forthcoming.

“We’re not looking forward to sending a lot of arms,” Mr Trump said. “We’re looking forward to getting the war finished so we can do other things.”

Willy Lowry contributed to this report from Washington