LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he believed he could salvage his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump after their explosive meeting in the Oval Office, but that talks needed to continue behind closed doors.
In an extraordinary meeting that was broadcast live on Friday, Trump accused Zelenskiy of being ungrateful for U.S. aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War Three, casting into doubt Washington’s ongoing support for Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, talking to reporters after a summit with European leaders in London on Sunday, said he did not think the U.S. would stop its assistance to Ukraine, because as “leaders of the civilized world” they would not want to help Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Zelenskiy said he remained prepared for any challenges that may arise. “As regards to salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue,” he told reporters via a translator after the London meeting.
But he added: “I do not think it’s right when such discussions are totally open. … The format of what happened, I don’t think it brought something positive or additional to us as partners.”
Zelenskiy added that he remained ready to sign the proposed minerals deal with the United States, and that he believed the U.S. would be ready as well.
Trump supports Putin and sees him as something resembling an equal. He doesn’t have that same respect for Zelenskyy. He sees Ukraine as the little guy, and being a bully, he tries to push them around to get what he wants from them. And anything Zelenskyy does to resist that bullying becomes an attack on Trump’s ego, which is a bigger deal to him than any war or geopolitical issue.
I mean, for fuck sake, Trump was yelling at Zelenskyy for supposedly risking millions of lives and world war 3 by not shutting up about security guarantees and just taking whatever deal they give him. But even with those stakes, he’s ready to end the entire process and cancel the deal over being “disrespected” and not getting thanked enough. Even if we take Trump’s statements at face value and assume he is being honest and operating in good faith, he’s still giant piece of shit that cares less about the lives of millions and the fate of the world than his own ego.
There may be a way to steer Trump into pushing back against Putin and supporting Ukraine a little bit. Maybe if someone could get actually get through to him and make him understand how everyone is laughing at him for being Putin’s bitch. Unfortunately, that would have to get past a nearly impenetrable wall of idiocy and self-delusion that keeps him safe from reality.