Gambiaj.com – (WASHINGTON, DC) – President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, engaged in a spectacular yelling match in the Oval Office on Friday as Zelensky attempted to pitch the United States for ongoing security support while in Washington.

“Make a deal or we’re out,” President Donald Trump shouted at Ukraine’s leader during an angry exchange about the nature of U.S assistance and whether Zelensky had shown enough gratitude. The Ukrainian leader had intended to request that the United States continue to provide security support.

At some point Trump yelled, “No, no. You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble. I know. I know. You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us.”

Zelensky replied, “And we are thankful. I said, thanks in this cabinet.”

Trump would not let go and charged again, “If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks…” to which Ukraine’s president, Zelensky, ironically replied, “In three days, I heard it from Putin, in three days. In three days…”

Raising their voices, Trump and Zelensky — along with the Vice President JD Vance — engaged in a tense back-and-forth about the nature of US support and whether Zelensky had demonstrated enough gratitude.

“You’re not really in a good position right now,” Trump scolded Zelensky, raising his voice.

“You’re gambling with World War III,” the US president went on.

Vance called Zelensky “disrespectful” for trying to litigate the conflict in public.

In response to worries that he favors Russian President Vladimir Putin too much, President Donald Trump contended that taking a strong stance against the Russian leader would be detrimental to efforts to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

“Well, if I didn’t align myself with both of them, you’d never have a deal. You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say, ‘Hi, Vladimir. How are we doing on the deal?’ It doesn’t work that way. I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America, and for the good of the world, I’m aligned with the world, and I want to get this thing over with,” Trump said alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Referring to Zelensky, Trump continued, “You see the hatred he’s got for Putin — that’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”

“I’m aligned with the world,” Trump added. “I’m aligned with Europe. I want to see if we get this done.”

Trump said a deal will not be achieved through toughness on Putin.

“You want to see tough? I could be so tough, but you’re never going to get a deal that way,” he said.

Trump avoids weighing in on security commitments for Ukraine

President Donald Trump declined to offer details on if his administration would provide additional security assistance following Friday’s expected rare earth minerals deal with Ukraine, again telling reporters at the White House he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is “very serious,” about ending the war, “and when the deal is made, I don’t think we talk about security.”

“Everyone was talking about the other day, all they talked about was security,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Let me make the deal first, I have to make the deal first.’ I don’t worry about security right now, we have to have a deal. Because right now, last week, 2,000 soldiers died on both sides, 2,000 and they’re losing 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 a week. So, as we sit here and we talk, people are getting shot and dying on the battlefield.”

The U.S president, who has previously said Ukraine would have to forego its aspirations to join NATO and may have to cede some territory to Russia to end the war but has declined to say what, if any, concessions Russia may have to make to end the war, once again avoided offering details on what Russia may have to give up.

Zelensky said his goal was to “save our country, our values, our freedom, and democracy. And, of course, no compromises” with Putin. Trump later pushed back on that last part.

With CNN