A disastrous exchange at the White House Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Donald Trump, and Vice President JD Vance upended a planned mineral deal that would have resulted in the United States renewing its commitment to Ukraine’s defense.

The trio met in a televised meeting that started with them exchanging pleasantries, fielding questions and largely addressing one another cordially – until Zelensky interjected and caused a stir that led to admonishment from Vance for being disrespectful. 

The exchange intensified, and Trump told Zelensky that his country could not survive in its war with Russia without U.S. support. The president further chastised the Ukrainian leader for not expressing appropriate gratitude for support that was forthcoming.

Initially, Trump and Zelensky were set to deliver a joint press conference on the signing of the mineral deal afterward. That deal was not, in fact, finalized at the time of the meeting and the question of an American security guarantee remained open. 

Zelensky and Trump contradicted each other on multiple occasions, and Trump argued that Zelensky’s attitude toward Russian President Vladimir Putin made it harder for him to negotiate an end to the three-year war.

The eruption led to Trump asking Zelensky to leave and neither the press conference nor the signing of the mineral deal took place. 

Trump subsequently issued a statement asserting that Zelensky was not serious about negotiating a peace deal and invited him to return when he was prepared to make a real agreement.

Reactions to the exchange were divided along party lines, with Republicans hailing Trump and Vance for refusing to tolerate Zelensky’s behavior in the White House and Democrats condemning the pair for supposedly siding with Russia.

“Zelenskyy owns this one. And it's not even close," wrote Fox Business analyst Charles Gasparino. “You don’t come in with such a weak hand, piss off the guy you need, and then expect money and endless support. Anyone who has ever been in the easiest of negotiations knows this, and this negotiation was anything but easy. He has no choice but to take whatever Trump is offering, end the war NOW, grow his economy and make Ukraine stronger.”

“Zelenskyy flew to Washington, but he walked into the Kremlin,” wrote Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass.

Shortly afterward, NBC News released a report citing two USAID officials saying the State Department had withdrawn support for Ukraine’s energy grid, a development that could result in Ukrainians struggle to keep the lights on as Russia targets key infrastructure.

Amid the fallout, former National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz speculated that Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, could facilitate a mending of fences before Zelensky departed the U.S. No such meeting ultimately took place.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican supporter of Ukraine, was aghast at Zelensky’s conduct and suggested his country might need new leadership for Ukrainian-American relations to resume.

Zelensky "either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with or he needs to change," Graham said.

Trump expressed openness to resuming talks with Zelensky if he was serious about pursuing a lasting agreement instead of protracting the war with Russia.

"He's gotta say 'I wanna make peace. I don't want to fight a war any longer,'" Trump said. "He doesn't have to stand there and say 'Putin this, Putin that.’ His people are dying.”

Trump then departed the White House aboard Marine One en route to Joint Base Andrews from which he traveled to Mar-a-Lago.

Zelensky carried on with his day and sat for an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier. 

During the interview, Zelensky said he was “very thankful” to Trump and the American people for their support thus far, but explicitly refused to apologize when pressed by Baier on the matter and insisted the intensity of the exchange was a product of the severity of the stakes.

"No, I respect [the] president and I respect [the] American people," he said. "And if I don't know if I think that we have to be very open and very honest, and I'm not sure that we did something bad,” he said.

Plans for further discussions remained unclear as of press time.