Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy leaves after clash with Trump

President Donald Trump has said he is not currently interested in revisiting or reviving the critical minerals deal with Ukraine that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had originally traveled to Washington to sign, a senior White House official told Reuters news agency.

The White House official also claimed Zelenskyy’s delegation began "begging" to sign the deal immediately after being told to leave the White House.

After leaving the Oval Office, Ukraine's Zelenskyy said he respected the US president and the American people. Zelenskyy told Fox News it would be difficult for his country to hold off the now three-year Russian invasion without US support.

However, he said Ukraine would not enter peace talks with Russia without security guarantees to prevent a renewed Russian offensive.

Asked if he should apologize to Trump, as several US politicians have demanded, Zelenskyy said, "We have to be very open and honest. I am not sure that we did something bad."

He described the meeting in the Oval Office as "not good for both sides" but also added he does "not want to lose" the US as a partner and that his relationship with Trump can be salvaged. 

US President Donald Trump said his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy "overplayed his hand" during their heated exchange in the Oval Office, which was broadcast live.

Trump, who spoke to reporters while leaving the White House for his Florida estate, insisted "I want a ceasefire now."

The US president said he wanted the war in Ukraine to end "immediately." Trump also rejected new talks with Zelenskyy and accused the Ukrainian leader of opposing a truce.

Trump claimed that Zelenskyy is "looking to go on and fight, fight, fight," while Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to end" the war Russia started by invading Ukraine just over three years ago. 

Before their discussion ended in a spat, Trump had told Zelenskyy that Ukraine would need to make "compromises" in a truce with Russia. Zelenskyy said there should be "no compromises with a killer on our territory."

Inna Sovsun, a member of Ukrainian parliament, told DW that Ukrainians feel the way Trump treated Zelenskyy was "unfair, unjustified and unprovoked."

Zelenskyy was at the White House to sign a minerals deal that would have marked a new chapter in the relationship between Ukraine and the United States, but the meeting devolved into a shouting match with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance berating Zelenskyy.

Following the row, Sovsun said there is a lot of "room for the European Union to step in."

She said if European and other Western leaders only react by voicing their concerns, Ukraine would be "left to deal with the United States directly."

But if they were to come together and offer tangible support like "a list of weapons that we can deliver to Ukrainians right now so that they can continue fighting," she said such a move would "improve Ukraine's negotiation position in relation with the United States."

Going forward, Sovsun suggested that the main negotiator from Ukraine should be someone else instead of Zelenskyy.

Sovsun also called for a mediator that both sides can trust for future negotiations, naming British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as a potential figure. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to both US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after their contentious meeting in the Oval Office.

Starmer said he is looking forward to "hosting international leaders on Sunday, including President Zelenskyy," the prime minister's spokesperson said.

"He retains his unwavering support for Ukraine and is playing his part to find a path forward to a lasting peace, based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, said a Russian strike on a medical facility in Ukraine's second-largest city triggered a fire late Friday.

He gave no immediate indication of casualties, but Terekhov said earlier that drones were active over Kharkiv.

A spokesperson for the US State Department said on Friday that Zelenskyy could turn things around after he abruptly left the White House and a minerals deal signing ceremony was called off.

"I think maybe he's having some second thoughts, but he has a chance to turn this around," State Department Tammy Bruce said during an interview with Fox Business.

The public row between Zelenskyy and Trump cut short what was meant to be a day of Ukraine-US diplomacy.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country would propose to its partners an "immediate summit" involving the United States, European nations and allies to discuss how "to deal with the great challenges of today, starting with Ukraine."

"Every division of the West makes us all weaker and favors those who would like to see the decline of our civilization," she said in a statement after a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart Donald Trump ended in a public quarrel.

Following the public spat that could prolong Ukraine's war, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised President Donald Trump "for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before." 

Ukraine's top army commander expressed support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his argument with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office was broadcast globally.

"Armed Forces — with Ukraine, with the people, with the Supreme Commander. Our strength is in unity," Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, wrote on X. 

He added: "We continue to destroy the occupier, we bring victory closer. Glory to Ukraine!"

US media reported that President Donald Trump and other officials felt disrespected and asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to leave.

Following a spat with his US counterpart, Zelenskyy abruptly departed the White House. A planned joint press conference between him and Trump was canceled.

While European leaders rallied behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an outpouring of support, Hungary's Russia-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban, on the other hand, praised and thanked US President Donald Trump.

Orban said that Trump stood "bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest."

"Strong men make peace, weak men make war," Orban wrote on X. 

EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas also joined in the support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor," she wrote in a post on X.

Kallas also stressed that "the free world needs a new leader" and that it's up to Europe "to take this challenge."

Germany's likely next chancellor,  Friedrich Merz, also backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his Oval Office blow-up with US President Donald Trump, saying "We stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times."

"We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war," Merz posted on X.

Germany's outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz also chimed in, stressing that "Ukraine can rely on Germany and on Europe," after Volodymyr Zelenskyy's spat with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

"Nobody wants peace more than the citizens of Ukraine. That's why we're searching together for a path of lasting and just peace," Scholz said on X.