Tense Trump-Zelenksy talks stall minerals agreement
Donald Trump was "feeling disrespected" by Volodymyr Zelensky during a tense press conference with the Ukrainian president and JD Vance.
On Friday, at the White House, Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. As the American leader had announced earlier, and the Ukrainian president confirmed, the goal was to sign a mineral extraction agreement.
The Ukrainian side repeatedly emphasized, however, that they would only sign it if they received security guarantees from the American side.
In the Oval Office, a clash occurred between the politicians when the Ukrainian president spoke about the necessity of providing Ukraine with security guarantees and actively involving Kyiv in the negotiation process.
Did Trump feel dismissed?
The spokesperson for the U.S. president said on the American station Fox News: "The President felt disrespected by Zelensky's rhetoric and demeanor, he was shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes." This claim about the Ukrainian president's behavior is also confirmed by White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. Her sources also claim that Donald Trump did not feel sufficiently respected by the guest from Ukraine. This supposedly led to the failure of talks regarding the rare minerals agreement.
He was "shrugging and rolling his eyes," Heinrich quotes her sources.
