Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that he was “not sure” he “did something bad” during his meeting with President Donald Trump, which resulted in him being kicked out of the White House.
During an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Zelensky was asked if he felt he owed Trump “an apology.” The interview came after Zelensky was kicked out of the White House after making several “disrespectful” comments during a meeting “in front of the media” and ahead of the signing of a minerals deal.
“So, I’m not hearing from you, Mr. President, a thought that you owe the president an apology,” Baier questioned.
“No, I respect president and I respect American people, and if — I don’t know if … I think that we have to be very open and very honest, and I’m not sure we did something bad,” Zelensky answered.
Zelensky’s answer came after Baier stated that Trump said Zelensky had “disrespected him,” Vice President JD Vance, and the American people, and Baier questioned whether or not he felt he was disrespectful.
“President Trump said after your meeting that you disrespected him, and the vice president, and all of America in the Oval Office. Do you think you did, and do you think you owe an apology to President Trump?” Baier questioned.
“I’m very thankful to Americans for all your support. You did a lot,” Zelensky answered. “I’m thankful to President Trump and to Congress’s bipartisan support. And, I was always very thankful from all our people. You helped us a lot from the very beginning during three years of full-scale invasion. You helped us to survive.”
“Anyway, we are strategic partners and even in such tough dialogue … we have to be very honest and we have to be very direct to understand each other,” Zelensky added. “Because it’s very — for us — very necessary to President Trump and I’m — with all respect that he wants to finish this war. But nobody wants to finish more than we, because we in Ukraine, we are in this war, we are in this battle and battle for freedom for our lives.”
After the meeting, Trump was asked by Nancy Cordes, CBS News’s Chief White House correspondent, what Zelensky needed to do to “restart talks.” Trump responded by saying Zelensky needs to say he wants “to make peace.”
“He’s gotta say, ‘I want to make peace,’” Trump answered. “He doesn’t have to stand there and say about, ‘Putin this, Putin that,’ all the negative things. He has got to say, ‘I want to make peace. I don’t want to fight a war any longer.’ His people are dying, he doesn’t have the cards.”
After the meeting, the White House confirmed that Zelensky left without signing the minerals deal, and Trump issued a statement on Truth Social saying that he had “determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved,” adding that Zelensky “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office.”
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