‘Take the deal or we’re out,’ Trump tells Zelenskyy

After weeks of intense negotiations and statements between Washington and Kyiv, the expectations were running high for the first meeting of US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Yet, probably no one expected it to turn into a heated argument live on TV. 

The meeting changed the tone and became less diplomatic when US Vice President JD Vance told Zelenskyy that Ukraine didn’t have enough people to continue fighting.

The Ukrainian president replied that JD Vance has not been to Ukraine to say this, adding “come and see”.

Things got increasingly heated from this moment onward. 

Zelenskyy emphasised the need for security guarantees, which Kyiv has repeatedly insisted upon. Trump interrupted Zelenskyy and told him to “be grateful” for what the US had already done to help Ukraine. 

“You have to be more thankful. You don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us, you don’t have any cards,” Trump said.

“Your country is in big trouble,” The US president continued, adding, “you are not winning this”.

Reiterating that Ukraine could only defend itself for three years now because of the US military aid, Trump said, “If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would be have been over in two weeks.”

“In three days, (as) I have heard from Putin,” Zelenskyy retorted.

This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.