Donald Trump‘s meeting with President Zelensky today erupted into an unprecedented blistering row.
Things started to go off the rails about 40 minutes in when the Ukrainian president said he had signed deals with Putin, but still could not trust the ‘killer’ leader.
Tempers flared inside the Oval Office with Vice President J.D. Vance also weighing in to give Zelensky a dressing down.
Here MailOnline takes a look at the most explosive quotes from the showdown that now threatens to overshadow talks for a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
‘Gambling with World War III’
President Trump dramatically accused Zelensky of playing with the lives of millions of people in one of the meeting’s tensest exchanges.
The comments came after Zelenksy pushed back at Trump’s suggestion he should compromise with Putin after three years of war.
‘You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people,’ Trump shouted at the Ukrainian leader.
‘You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country – this country.’
Donald Trump’s meeting with President Zelensky today erupted into an unprecedented blistering row
The extraordinary confrontation inside the Oval Office threatened to overshadow talks for a ceasefire in the Ukraine-Russia war
During the meeting President Trump accused Zelensky of gambling with millions of lives
‘Be more thankful’
Trump also berated Zelensky as they sat in the Oval Office, telling him to be more ‘thankful’ and saying, ‘You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel.’
US Vice President JD Vance, sitting nearby, also attacked Zelensky, calling him ‘disrespectful.’
Zelensky appeared to try to speak but was cut off.
‘Make a deal or we out’
During the meeting, Trump told the Ukrainian president he either ‘make a deal’ with Russia ‘or we’re out.’
‘You can’t do any deals without compromises,’ Trump said. ‘So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think.’
‘No compromises with a killer’
Showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said there should be ‘no compromises with a killer on our territory.’
‘Crazy Russians,’ he said, deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.
‘They respect me’
Trump was on fire with rage at the end of the meeting.
He claimed that you can’t compare past broken deals with Putin, because they were brokered under different president.
‘Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me,’ Trump said.
‘Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia.
‘You ever hear that deal? That was a phony that was a phony Hunter, Biden, Joe, Biden scam.’
