US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has bizarrely claimed that Volodymyr Zelensky was responsible for Donald Trump’s shocking outburst in the Oval Office.
An angry US president told Zelensky he is “gambling with World War Three” in a heated exchange at the White House yesterday – and sensationally kicked him out before a controversial deal over the country’s mineral resources could be signed. The 78-year-old also told the Ukrainian president “without us, you don’t have the cards” to the end the war with Russia, and was backed up by his Vice President JD Vance, who snapped at Zelensky and asked why he had not “thanked” Trump for hosting him.
But last night, Rubio, who was present for the tense meeting in front of the cameras, tried to pin the blame on the Ukrainian President – and claimed he is the one who should “apologise” for his conduct. He told CNN: “You guys only saw the end, you don’t see all the things that led up to this. The president’s been very clear on this, he campaigned on this.
“He thinks this war should have never started and I agree that had he been president it never would have happened. Don’t come here and create a scenario where you’re going to start lecturing us about how diplomacy isn’t going to work – Zelensky took it in that direction and it ended in a predictable outcome as a result.”
Despite an apparently cordial beginning to the talks, Donald Trump suddenly turned on Zelenksy in full view of the world’s media after he warned of future attacks from Russia, and said to him: “You’re gambling with World War Three. 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.”
A few moments later, JD Vance joined in and asked him: “Have you said thank you, once, in this entire meeting? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.” But Zelensky did not appear intimidated and said his country had shown its gratitude “a lot of times, even today”, going on to say: “Of course we want to stop the war. But I said to you, with guarantees.”
A motorcade then arrived early to escort Zelensky from the White House shortly before a planned diplomatic lunch was due to take place. In the hours that followed, Trump said the Ukrainian leader “disrespected” the USA and claimed he “was not ready for peace”. But Zelensky did not continue the argument and wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you President Trump, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”
Before the dramatic breakdown in talks, Zelensky had been expected to sign a landmark economic agreement with the US which would’ve granted extensive access to the country’s rich mineral resources. The Ukrainian president had hoped to try and convince the White House to provide some form of US backing for his nation’s security against any future Russian aggression following a peace deal.
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