Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is welcome back at the White House “any time” — if he demonstrates that he’s “ready to truly engage for peace,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Sunday,
New York Post reports.
Waltz, 51, appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” to rebuke Zelensky, 47, for unloading on Russia’s history of aggression during the now-infamous shouting match that erupted between President Trump and the Ukrainian leader in front of the cameras in the Oval Office on Friday.
“What was so, I think, stunning to all of us in the Oval Office was that it was not clear Zelensky was going to go to negotiations at all, that he would ever be able to negotiate with Putin,” Waltz said.
“What we made clear was that [negotiations] could not proceed, at least for now,” Waltz said. “When President Zelensky is ready to truly engage for peace, he’s welcome back any time.”
Waltz was in the Oval Office on Friday when Zelensky, Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly feuded over the war in Ukraine.
Roughly 40 minutes into their exchange, Vance prodded Zelensky to engage in diplomacy to end the war.
“What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” Zelensky shot back after rehashing how Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin has previously violated agreements with Ukraine.
Vance, 40, later called Zelensky “disrespectful,” and the Ukrainian leader was booted from the White House. Zelensky had been expected to sign a mineral-rights agreement during the visit to help pay the US for its military aid to Ukraine, but ultimately, that never came to pass.
