Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a new Time magazine interview that he “wanted to show” his “values” during a fiery White House meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance last month.
During the meeting, Trump was given pictures by Zelensky of “the attitude of Russia to our prisoners.” Time reported that multiple U.S. officials noted that the meeting had started going downhill at the moment with the pictures, with Trump’s defensiveness appearing to rise.
Zelensky told Time that giving Trump the pictures has caused him no regret, saying that the president “has family, loved ones, children.”
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“He has to feel the things that every person feels,” Zelensky told Time. “What I wanted to show were my values. But then, well, the conversation went in another direction.”
Last month’s meeting with Zelensky, Trump and Vance featured shouting and finger-pointing, with the president and Ukrainian leader arguing over U.S. support for Ukraine.
Following the meeting, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the Ukrainian president “is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.”
Zelensky also said in his Time interview that during the Oval Office meeting, Ukrainians had a desire for evidence the U.S. was still backing them.
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“But in that moment there was the sense of not being allies, or not taking the position of an ally,” Zelensky told Time. “In that conversation, I was defending the dignity of Ukraine.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier this month that Zelensky apologized to the president via a letter “for that whole incident that happened in the Oval Office.”
“I think that it was an important step and there’s been a lot of discussion between our teams and the Ukrainians and the Europeans who are relevant to this discussion as well,” Witkoff said in an appearance on Fox News at the time.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
