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Saturday, 26 April 2025
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Critical Moments... A Summit Meeting between Trump and Zelensky
ترامب وزيلنسكي

On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since their tense encounter at the White House weeks ago.

Stephen Chong, the White House communications director, stated that Trump had a "very productive discussion" with Zelensky before attending the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome. He added that the two leaders met privately and promised to provide the press with more details about the meeting later.

The White House had seen a confrontation in February described by observers as "historic" between Trump and Zelensky, which ended with the latter leaving early due to escalating tensions between them.

This confrontation began when the two presidents spoke before the media, where the tone of their discussion noticeably intensified, with Trump pressuring Ukraine to finalize a deal in the mining sector. Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, exchanged words with Zelensky before Vance accused the Ukrainian president of staging publicity tours, to which Zelensky responded by inviting Vance to visit Ukraine, a suggestion that was not well received by the latter.

Things escalated when Trump said, "You are gambling with starting World War III. Either you make a deal, or we will step away." He added, "You are not showing any gratitude, and that is not a nice thing to do." Cameras captured Zelensky leaving the White House without Trump accompanying him, and the Ukrainian president declined to make any statements to the media.

As a result of this tension, the scheduled joint press conference following the meeting was canceled, and the signing of the agreement expected between the two sides regarding the exploitation of Ukraine's mineral resources was also called off. After the confrontation, Trump accused Zelensky of being "unwilling to pursue peace," expressing his belief that he was exploiting U.S. involvement in the conflict to gain an advantage in negotiations with Russia.

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