The United States’ relationship with Ukraine erupted in a storm of acrimony Friday as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine in an explosive televised Oval Office showdown and abruptly cut short a visit meant to coordinate a plan for peace.

In a fiery public confrontation unlike any seen between a U.S. president and foreign leader in modern times, Trump and Vance castigated Zelenskyy for not being grateful enough for U.S. support in Ukraine’s war with Russia, and sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal on whatever terms the Americans dictated.

With his voice raised and temper flaring, Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine altogether if Zelenskyy did not go along. After journalists left the Oval Office, Trump canceled the rest of the visit, including a planned joint news conference and signing ceremony for a deal on rare minerals, and U.S. officials told the Ukrainians to leave. A grim-faced Zelenskyy strode out, climbed into a waiting black SUV and departed the White House grounds.

“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump wrote on social media. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

The White House later sent out Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, to tell reporters that Zelenskyy should consider stepping down. “He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with or he needs to change,” Graham said on the White House driveway.The president’s verbal assault on Zelenskyy was a stunning display of anger and resentment toward the leader of a country that has been invaded by a larger power intent on eliminating it as an independent state. No other president in memory has lashed out at a visiting foreign leader in the Oval Office on camera in such a vituperative way, not even at an adversary of the United States, much less a putative ally.

Talking over the Ukrainian leader, Vance called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” for coming into the Oval Office and making his case in front of the media and demanded that he thank Trump for his efforts to broker a peace deal with Russia. Trump jumped in and told the Ukrainian leader that “you’re not really in a good position right now” and that “you’re gambling with World War III.”

“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump added. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out, and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

The spectacle underlined how radically Trump has reoriented U.S. foreign policy in less than six weeks back in office, all but switching sides in the war in Europe as he expresses sympathy for President Vladimir Putin of Russia and antipathy for Zelenskyy.

Even as he shouted at the Ukrainian leader, the president spoke of Putin as if they were friends, saying the Russian leader has “been through a lot with me” in enduring the “Russia hoax,” referring to the investigation of Putin’s clandestine efforts to help Trump win the 2016 election.

The confrontation provided a major boost to Putin, who has long sought to drive a wedge between Ukraine and its most important patron, the United States. Russian officials seemed overjoyed on social media.

“The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office,” Dmitry Medvedev, a top Putin lieutenant, wrote online.

America’s traditional European allies, on the other hand, were deeply alarmed and rallied behind Zelenskyy, with the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and others issuing statements of support for Ukraine. The show of solidarity came just days after the United States sided with Russia over Europe in opposing a U.N. resolution condemning Russian aggression on the third anniversary of its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine.

Immediate aftermath

After leaving the White House, Zelenskyy tried to smooth over the rupture with a social media post aimed at Vance’s complaints about ingratitude.

“Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people,” he wrote, using the acronym for president of the United States.

In a later interview with Fox News, Zelenskyy refused to apologize to Trump but expressed regret about the exchange and appreciation to the United States for its support. “We are thankful and sorry for this,” he said.

Trump seemed less interested in making up. Speaking with reporters on the South Lawn before heading to Florida for the weekend, the president said that Zelenskyy opposes peace. “He’s looking to go on and fight, fight, fight,” Trump said. Asked if he wanted Zelenskyy to step down, he said, “I want somebody that’s going to make peace.”

Vance’s eagerness to assail Zelenskyy raised the question of whether it was a planned or impromptu ambush. Vance has never been a supporter of Ukraine and said in 2022 that “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.”

After Vance began chastising Zelenskyy, it seemed to prompt Trump to join in. The result, though, was the blowup of an economic deal that Trump had prioritized in recent days, a commitment by Ukraine to turn over rare mineral rights to repay U.S. military aid. The future of that deal remained unclear. A Trump administration official said later Friday that all U.S. aid to Ukraine could be canceled imminently.

Zelenskyy’s hurriedly arranged visit to Washington to sign the minerals deal was meant to smooth over tensions with Trump, who just last week parroted Russian talking points by falsely claiming that Ukraine “started” the war and calling Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections.”

With Zelenskyy agreeing to the minerals deal, Trump seemed ready to make nice by telling reporters Thursday that he did not even remember the dictator comment and expressing respect for the Ukrainian leader. He welcomed Zelenskyy at the door of the West Wing on Friday morning with an honor guard, and they shook hands.

The confrontation

The encounter, though, turned hostile shortly after they sat down in the Oval Office with journalists present. Zelenskyy sought to explain the history of the war with Russia, noting that it went back to 2014 when Moscow first seized Crimea and occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and continued through Trump’s first term.

He also expressed skepticism of Russian commitment to peace efforts mentioned by Vance. “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” he asked. “What do you mean?”

Bristling, Vance replied: “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.”

He then began assailing Zelenskyy. “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance lectured. “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

He accused Zelenskyy of mounting a “propaganda tour” in the United States. “Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”

Zelenskyy tried to respond to Vance’s assertions and said that the United States could feel threatened by Russia some day. “You have a nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future,” he said.

That set off Trump, who cut off Zelenskyy. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” he said, raising his voice. “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.”

“I’m not playing cards,” Zelenskyy replied. “I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m the president in a war.”

“You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump retorted. “And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”

Vance jumped back in. “Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? No.”

“A lot of times,” Zelenskyy said. “Even today.”

The Oval Office blowup drew criticism from supporters of Ukraine. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., gave an “answer to Vance” on social media: Zelenskyy, she said, “has thanked our country over and over again both privately and publicly.” She was one of several lawmakers who met with Zelenskyy before his visit to the White House.

“And our country thanks HIM and the Ukrainian patriots who have stood up to a dictator, buried their own & stopped Putin from marching right into the rest of Europe,” she wrote. “Shame on you.”

Adding their support were presidents and prime ministers of France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Portugal, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg and others.

“We stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times,” wrote Friedrich Merz, set to be Germany’s next chancellor after elections this week. “We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.”