Ukrainians on Friday took to the streets of Kyiv and rallied around President Volodymyr Zelenskiy following his angry exchange with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Zelenskiy openly challenged Trump over his approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin at the meeting, urging him to make no compromises with a killer.
The US president accused Zelenskiy of risking the Third World War and of being ungrateful to Washington for the military aid provided to Ukraine.
According to an HR manager simply identified as Mila, who was speaking on a chilly night in central Kyiv, Trump finally understood that Zelenskiy is a president that will not just give up.
Ukrainian officials and other prominent individuals, on social media, were also supportive of Zelenskiy, calling for unity in a country exhausted by three years of gruelling battle.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who was at the meeting with Trump, said President Zelenskiy has the bravery and strength to stand up for what is right.
DAILY POST reports that the meeting in Washington was intended to smooth choppy personal relations between Trump and Zelenskiy, with the two men due to sign an agreement that would have shared profits from Ukraine’s critical raw material deposits with the US.
The meeting, instead, quickly turned into a vicious spat in front of the cameras as Trump visibly irritated Zelenskiy by refusing to condemn Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago and occupied parts of it.