A televised shouting match broke out between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday, abruptly halting peace talks between the two leaders,
The Telegraph reports.
In a hostile press conference, the US president told Mr Zelensky to sign a ceasefire or “we’re out” as their summit descended into a furious dressing down of the Ukrainian president.
After the meeting was cut short and a press conference cancelled, Mr Trump ordered Mr Zelensky to leave. He later wrote online: “Come back when you’re ready for peace.”
The extraordinary clash left the prospects of a peace deal hanging by a thread and raised major questions about the future of European security.
The White House summit, which came a day after Sir Keir Starmer had held warm talks with Mr Trump, was meant to host the signing of a mineral wealth deal between the US and Ukraine.
But the mood in the room soured when Mr Zelensky called for US security guarantees beyond what was laid out in the draft deal.
The wartime leader said that Vladimir Putin had repeatedly broken ceasefire agreements signed in 2014 and, in a possible reference to further Russian aggression, warned America that its troops would be at risk without a strong security guarantee.
