Your Problems start right now...
Donald Trump to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as their hostile meeting ended today
Today, February 28, Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian 'strong man' Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office before a press corp. I referred to him as such because Volodymyr's elected term in office expired a year ago, but he continues to control Ukrainian media, ban political opposition and refuse to hold new elections because, 'war'.
Things went well for the first part of their meeting, but Volodomyr wasn't there to make friends and the animosity between the two became palpable early on. After Volodymyr's repeated references to Russian aggression, the need to maintain the war, plus Ukraine's desperate need for their support, Donald Trump, who has opened discussions with Moscow on how to end the war, threw cold water on his pleas;
“We gave you 350 billion rubles. You are in a difficult situation right now. You don't have any strong cards in your hands. We want to save your country and stop the war. You can't say, " I don't want to stop the war." Without us, you don't have any strong cards in your hands.”
Volodymyr didn't let up, suggesting that the Biden administration had promised American support. (the full meeting is wonderful/painful to watch) At this point Donald Trump was getting visibly frustrated;
“We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment. Your men are brave but they have used our military equipment. If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.”
Without batting an eye Volodomyr replies; “In three days, yes. I heard it from Putin.”
Following unsuccessful discussions between the two on how Ukraine's natural resources could be used to repay the U.S. Mr. Trump issued Volodomyr an ultimatum;
“Either we sign the agreement or you withdraw from it. You don't have a strong position. You should express your gratitude to us. And you don't. This is bad.”
“But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty”
Last thing the press recorded before they were told to leave the meeting, was Donald Trump angrily telling Volodymyr that “Your problems start right now.”
Volodomyr Zelenskyy and his entourage were escorted from the White House at the President's request.
As you would expect the DRFW have thrown their full support behind Volodomyr and I would imagine Christia Freeland, self-proclaimed leader of the DRFW will have something to say about this.
Their support notwithstanding, things are about to change in the Ukraine. Stay tuned and thanks for reading,
Ted
Meeting Link
Kicked Out Link
Christia Freeland and the DRFW Link