Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the American people and leadership and voiced hope for “strong relations,” a day after an astonishing Oval Office blowout with U.S. President Donald Trump that left many uncertain where the once staunch allies stood.
Zelenskyy on Saturday arrived in London ahead of a summit on Sunday organized by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with other European leaders.
The summit will also include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, Czechia and Romania, as well as the NATO secretary-general and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.
The shouting match that unfolded Friday in the final minutes of the highly anticipated meeting at the White House between Trump and Zelenskyy seemed to dash, at least for now, Ukrainian hopes that the United States could be locked in as a reliable partner in helping fend off, and conclude, Russia’s three-year onslaught.
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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said “a new era of nefariousness” had begun in the wake of Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy at the White House, but vowed that it would only increase her country’s commitment to Ukraine.
“Many of you will have slept fitfully tonight in the face of the unspeakable videos from the White House. Frankly, so did I. Unfortunately, this was not a bad dream, but a violent reality,” she told reporters on Saturday. “Our horror is greater today than before, but so is our commitment to the people of Ukraine, to our own security and to peace in Europe.”
She described Ukraine as “part of free and democratic Europe” and said there is no question as to who is the aggressor and who is “the brave defender” in the war.
A nighttime Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv wounded 12 civilians, including three children, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported on Saturday.
According to Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, some of the drones hit a medical facility where inpatients were staying overnight, while others damaged residential buildings.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia overnight launched a total of 154 attack drones at Ukrainian territory, 103 of which were shot down.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson described Friday’s Oval Office blowout between Trump and Zelenskyy as a “complete political and diplomatic failure” for Kyiv.
In a statement Saturday, Maria Zakharova also slammed the “political weakness and extreme moral degradation” of European leaders who continue to support Ukraine and its president.
Zakharova said Russia’s war aims remain unchanged, implying Moscow will insist on a demilitarized Ukraine barred from NATO, and on annexing Ukrainian territories it controls.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized Trump in unusually sharp terms for his behavior during the meeting with Zelenskyy at the Oval Office.
“Diplomacy fails when negotiating partners are humiliated in front of the whole world,” Steinmeier told dpa, the German news agency, during a flight to Uruguay. “The scene in the White House yesterday took my breath away. I would never have believed that we would one day have to protect Ukraine from the USA.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said if someone is gambling with World War III, it is not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but more likely his Russian counterpart.
Macron reacted to Friday’s heated exchange between U.S. President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, during which Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War III.”
“If anyone is gambling with World War III, his name is Vladimir Putin,” Macron told Portugal’s RTP news channel during a visit to Lisbon ahead of Sunday’s Ukraine summit of European leaders in London.
Macron said he still hopes that the United States will remain committed to the defense of democracy.
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