“A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelenskyy.”
That was the decision of the editorial crew on the Kyiv Unbiased, certainly one of Ukraine’s main media retailers, on a exceptional spat within the Oval Workplace that performed out on Feb. 28, 2025.
Some Ukrainians I’ve spoken to because the fractious encounter, throughout which Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy was repeatedly hectored by U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have certainly characterised it as disastrous for the nation. However for others, the incident has been calmly accepted as the brand new actuality in U.S.-Ukraine relations.
There have been some questions directed at Zelenskyy – did he enable himself to be baited into an an argument that might have actual penalties? Ought to he have remained silent? However for probably the most half, the therapy of Ukraine’s president by Trump and Vance has produced a presumably unintended consequence: It has unified a war-weary Ukrainian folks.
As one pal who has been displaced by conflict from the now occupied metropolis of Nova Kakhovka informed me, there has not been this stage of mobilization and patriotism in three years.
‘The country needs unity’
This unity is seen within the response throughout Ukraine’s political divide.
Petro Poroshenko, an typically outspoken opponent of Zelenskyy and chief of the opposition occasion European Solidarity, stated on March 1 that, to the shock of many, he won’t criticize Zelenskyy’s efficiency on the White Home. “The country does not need criticism, the country needs unity,” he stated within the video posted on X.
Anecdotally, even these Ukrainians who didn’t vote for Zelenskyy have informed me that occasions within the Oval Workplace made them really feel extra supportive of Zelenskyy.
Nonetheless, a way of realism is sinking in over the shifting stance of the U.S. administration. Trump’s said belief in Vladimir Putin and his conciliatory feedback over Russian aggression – together with a refusal to acknowledge Russian conflict crimes – have, for a lot of Ukrainians, set low expectations that the White Home will help obtain a fast and lasting peace. But, as Inna Sovsun of the opposition occasion Holos famous, “It was difficult to watch a president who’s been a victim of Russian aggression being attacked by the leader of the free world.”
Setting the file straight
The Feb. 28 assembly between the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders adopted weeks of more and more harsh Trump rhetoric towards Zelenskyy. Since being inaugurated on Jan. 20, Trump has referred to as the Ukrainian chief a “dictator without elections,” claiming – incorrectly – that Zelenksyy had 4% approval rankings. He additionally indicted that the invasion by Russian troops in February 2022 was Ukraine’s fault.
Such feedback had already made Ukrainians rally round Zelenskyy, who has a wholesome 63% approval ranking, in line with the newest polls.
The ugly scenes within the Oval Workplace may see an extra rallying round Zelenskyy, particularly if he can efficiently characterize his position within the dispute as that of defender of his folks. Doing so would faucet into rising fashionable resentment over the brand new U.S. administration’s obvious unwillingness to acknowledge Russian conflict crimes.
Giant U.S. and Ukrainian flags cling on the Kyiv River Port constructing on March 2, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Picture by Pierre Crom/Getty Pictures
Within the days main as much as the Zelenskyy-Trump assembly, the U.S. voted with Russia in opposition to a United Nations decision condemning Russian aggression and opposed the wording of a draft G7 assertion marking the third anniversary of the conflict, which depicted Russia because the aggressor.
Letting Putin off the hook
The indignant exchanges within the Oval Workplace appeared to have been sparked by Zelenskyy’s objection to Trump’s assertion that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a person of his phrase.
That refusal to name out Putin – who faces an arrest warrant from the Worldwide Legal Courtroom – angers Ukrainians who’ve suffered Russian aggression for 3 years. To hammer that time residence, Zekenskyy confirmed Trump and others within the Oval Workplace photographs of Ukrainian prisoners of conflict who return from Russian captivity tortured and abused.
As Ukrainian human rights lawyer and Nobel Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk famous in a Feb. 17 speech, 65% of Ukrainians polled early within the battle stated their principal disappointment in ending the conflict can be “impunity for Russian crimes.” Three years of battle could have solely hardened that sentiment – but the U.S., beneath Trump’s management, appears to be like more and more prepared to let Putin off the hook.
Defender of the nation – and fact
A big part of Ukrainian media – each historically pro- and anti-Zelenskyy alike – have since Feb. 28 portrayed the president within the position of a defender of each his nation and the reality.
He was, this framing has it, pressured into the tough place of getting to set the file straight and problem unfaithful statements in actual time, and in entrance of the seemingly antagonistic chief of the world’s largest financial system, whose assist has been essential in Ukraine’s try to repel the invading Russian military.
To some, protecting silent would have been tantamount to capitulation, however others have questioned Zelenskyy’s method.
Whereas nonetheless sustaining that Zelenskyy’s key message was appropriate, some Ukrainians have steered that his emotional tone within the Oval Workplace was not constructive.
Opposition lawmaker Oleskiy Goncharenko steered in an interview on CNN that Zelenskyy ought to have been extra “diplomatic” and extra “calm” on condition that the stakes have been so excessive.
In the meantime, there have been additionally those that questioned the choice to carry such an necessary dialog in entrance of the press, particularly with out using skilled translators who doubtlessly may have tamped down the rhetoric and slowed the tempo of the alternate. Thus, as Tymofiy Mylovanov, the adviser to the workplace of the president and head of the Kyiv College of Economics put it, some issues may “have been lost in translation.”
‘Zelensky is our democratic leader’
So the place does the Oval Workplace dispute depart each Zelenskyy and U.S.-Ukrainian relations?
Within the aftermath of the dispute, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham – who has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine – steered that Zelenskyy ought to resign, the implications being that his relationship with Trump was so damaged that his presence is now counterproductive for Ukraine’s priorities.
It’s a line that hasn’t gone down nicely in Ukraine. Kira Rudyk, the chief of opposition occasion Holos, retorted that it was as much as the Ukrainian folks alone to determine on their management and future.
Furthermore, to many Ukrainians the barrier to harmonious Ukraine-U.S. relations just isn’t Zelenskyy, however Trump.
Mustafa Nayyem, who served in Zelesnkyy’s authorities, summed up the view of many Ukrainians by claiming in a social media publish that the Trump administration “does not just dislike Ukraine. They despise us.” The “contempt is deeper than indifference, and more dangerous than outright hostility,” he added within the Feb. 28 publish.
Intentional provocation
Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian activist lawyer and blogger, described the Oval Workplace spat as an intentional provocation on behalf of Trump to discredit Ukraine as an unreliable associate within the peace negotiations.
Sternenko just isn’t alone in his evaluation. Journalist and blogger Vitaly Portnikov argued that the spat was the results of Trump’s unrealistic promise of ending the conflict rapidly being confronted with the fact that maybe Russia doesn’t wish to make any concessions. The pondering right here is Putin has proven no indication that he’ll bend on his conflict targets, so for Trump, framing Zelenskyy as “not ready for peace” permits the U.S. president to stroll away from his marketing campaign promise with out accepting defeat.
Amongst associates: Zelenskyy with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron on March 2, 2025.
Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Pictures
A brand new actuality
Past the headlines and preliminary reactions from Ukrainian politicians, journalists and civilians, there may be additionally one other sentiment that’s rising: resignation to the brand new actuality.
Most Ukrainians need an finish to conflict, however in a approach that preserves their sovereignty and ensures future safety. Till just lately, that was shared by the occupants of the White Home. It’s changing into more and more clear to many Ukrainians that, with reference the conflict in Ukraine, the U.S. will play a distinct position beneath Trump – which means Ukraine will more and more look to European leaders as main companions.
Maybe Goncharenko, the opposition member of Ukraine’s Parliament, finest summed up the results of the Oval Workplace spat: “It was not Ukraine, it was not the United States who won … it was Putin.”
