LAST UPDATE | 28 Feb

A PEACE DEAL on the Ukraine-Russia war appears to be hanging in the balance after US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy clashed in an extraordinary shouting match in the Oval Office.

Today’s meeting was dramatically cut short, with Zelenskyy leaving the White House after the row in front of media.

Trump has spoken about the unprecedented scenes tonight, claiming that Zelenskyy “overplayed his hand”, while suggesting that the Ukraine leader wants to return to meet with him.

Following today’s White House summit, Trump issued a statement claiming that “Zelenskyy is not ready for peace” and he “can come back when he is ready for peace”.

In the statement, Trump accused Zelenskyy of having “disrespected” the US in the “cherished Oval Office” due to the row.

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure,” Trump said in the statement.

“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.

I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.

Earlier, a furious Trump told Zelenskyy in front of media: “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out.”

Trump called Zelensky “disrespectful” for seeking US security guarantees in the truce with Russia.

It meant that the meeting that was meant to ease tensions over the sudden US outreach to Russia ended up inflaming them.

“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country,” Trump added.

Zelensky was at the White House to sign a deal on sharing Ukraine’s mineral riches and discuss a peace deal with Russia, despite the US president recently branding his Ukrainian counterpart a dictator.

The meeting came after a week-long diplomatic dance that has also seen the leaders of France and Britain come to the White House to persuade Trump not to abandon Kyiv.

But tempers frayed after Vice President JD Vance said that “diplomacy” was needed to end the war. Zelenskyy asked “what kind of diplomacy” and Vance then accused him of being “disrespectful” in the president’s office.

“You’re not acting at all thankful. It’s not a nice thing,” the US president told Zelenskyy.

“It’s going to be very hard to do business like this,” he added.

Vance, sitting nearby, also attacked Zelensky, calling him “disrespectful.”

Zelenskyy appeared to try to speak but was cut off.

The extraordinary outburst came after Trump said Ukraine will have to make “compromises” in a truce with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor three years ago.

“You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think,” Trump said.

But showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy said there should be “no compromises with a killer on our territory.”

“Crazy Russians,” Ukraine’s leader said, deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.

Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy, who he said was “not acting at all thankful” and not “nice.”

Trump further warned Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukraine had to make a deal with the United States — or Washington would end its support since the Russian invasion.

“Your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out,” Trump said in the White House in a dramatic verbal clash.

“I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out, but you don’t have the cards.”

Parking the press confidence towards its end, Trump said: “This is going to be great television.”

The dramatic public breakdown in the long-tense relationship between Zelensky and Trump came after their meeting — in front of a large group of journalists — appeared to get off to a friendlier start.

Zelensky had said, “I think President Trump is on our side.”

He said that he would be speaking to the US president about the “crucial” need for a so-called US security “backstop” to any European deployments of peacekeepers monitoring an eventual truce.

“This is crucial, this is what we want to speak about, this is very important,” he said.

Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, ending what had been full-throated support for Ukraine’s attempt to defeat the Russian invasion and casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky.

Trump said in the Oval Office that he had “spoken on numerous occasions” to Putin — more than has been publicly reported beyond the lengthy call between the two leaders earlier this February.

Zelensky told Trump that he should visit his embattled nation. “You have to come and to look.”

The extraordinary turnaround caps a week of frantic international diplomacy centered on Washington, as Kyiv seeks to shore up support despite Trump’s recent pivot towards Russia.

Trump upended years of US policy on Ukraine two weeks ago when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and started talks on ending the three-year-old war – without Kyiv.

He also alarmed allies as he appeared to turn on Zelenskyy, berating him as a “dictator without elections” and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

With reporting by Eoghan Dalton and AFP