Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russia\u2019s terms for ending its war in a volatile White House meeting on Friday, warning that Vladimir Putin had said he would \u201cdestroy\u201d Ukraine if it did not agree.<\/p>\n
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian presidents descended many times into a \u201cshouting match\u201d, with Trump \u201ccursing all the time\u201d, people familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n
They added that the US president tossed aside maps of the frontline in Ukraine, insisted Zelenskyy surrender the entire Donbas region to Putin, and repeatedly echoed talking points the Russian leader had made in their call a day earlier.<\/p>\n
Though Ukraine ultimately managed to swing Trump back to endorsing a freeze of the current front lines, the acrimonious meeting appeared to reflect the capricious nature of Trump\u2019s position on the war and his willingness to endorse Putin\u2019s maximalist demands.<\/p>\n
The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy came amid a fresh push by the US president to end Russia\u2019s war following the ceasefire secured between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy and his team went to the White House hoping to persuade Trump to supply them with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, but the US president ultimately declined to do so.<\/p>\n
The tense meeting echoed a similarly fractious encounter at the White House in February, in which Trump and Vice-President JD Vance lambasted Zelenskyy for what they characterised as a lack of gratitude towards the US.<\/p>\n
During Friday\u2019s meeting, Trump appeared to have adopted many of Putin\u2019s talking points verbatim, even when they contradicted his own recent statements about Russia\u2019s weaknesses, said European officials briefed on the meeting.<\/p>\n
According to a European official with knowledge of the meeting, Trump told Zelenskyy that the Ukrainian leader needed to cut a deal or face destruction.<\/p>\n
The official said that Trump told Zelenskyy he was losing the war, warning: \u201cIf [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point in the meeting, the US president threw Ukraine\u2019s maps of the battlefield to one side, the official familiar with the encounter said. <\/p>\n
The White House and the Ukrainian president\u2019s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he was confident about securing an end to the conflict, and added that Putin is \u201cgoing to take something, he\u2019s won certain property\u201d.<\/p>\n
Putin made a new offer to Trump on Thursday under which Ukraine would surrender the parts of the eastern Donbas region under its control in exchange for some small areas of the two southern frontline regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.<\/p>\n
The Russian proposal marks a small concession from that made during Putin\u2019s last meeting with Trump in Alaska in August, where he said he would agree to freeze the line of contact elsewhere on the frontline if Ukraine surrendered the Donbas.<\/p>\n
That meeting also ended acrimoniously after Putin rejected Trump\u2019s push for an immediate ceasefire and digressed at length about medieval Ukrainian history, prompting the US to explore ramped-up support for Kyiv, including by supplying Tomahawk missiles.<\/p>\n
But ceding the remainder of the Donbas still under Ukrainian control would be a non-starter for Ukraine, as it would hand Moscow territory it has only partially occupied for more than a decade and failed to seize despite its efforts since Putin ordered the invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n
Russian forces have struggled to retain the territory in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that Putin offered in exchange, and have made virtually no progress on the battlefield there since 2022, the year the war began.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo give [the Donbas] to Russia without a fight is unacceptable for Ukrainian society, and Putin knows that,\u201d said Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the Ukrainian parliament\u2019s foreign affairs committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said that Putin might be pushing the contentious idea \u201cwith a purpose to cause division within Ukraine and undermine our unity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Merezhko added: \u201cIt\u2019s not about getting more territory for Russia, it\u2019s about how to destroy us from within.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s belligerent repetition of Putin\u2019s rhetoric on Friday dashed hopes among many of Ukraine\u2019s European allies that he could be convinced to increase support to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
That hope had risen after Trump in recent weeks expressed frustration and impatience with the Russian president\u2019s refusal to actively engage in bilateral peace negotiations with Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n
Three other European officials briefed on the White House discussions confirmed that Trump had spent much of the meeting lecturing Zelenskyy, repeating Putin\u2019s arguments about the conflict and urging him to accept the Russian proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cZelenskyy was very negative\u201d following the meeting, according to one of the officials, adding that European leaders were \u201cnot optimistic but pragmatic with planning next steps\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Sunday, Zelenskyy said \u201cdecisive steps are needed from the United States, Europe, the G20 and G7 countries\u201d to end the war. <\/p>\n