COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news
By Todd Lassa
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “told to leave” by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance after an explosive meeting with President Trump, without signing the much-anticipated deal between the two countries that was supposed to result in a ceasefire with Russia, NPR’s All Things Considered reports.
Details are a bit murky, but Trump apparently wanted Ukraine to turn over half its proceeds from rare metals mining in the eastern part of the country – yes, including regions that already have been captured by Russian (maybe including help from North Korean) forces in exchange for some form of security for Ukraine. Or not.
There was little evidence that the art of this deal included much for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in a press conference-ish meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump at center-sofa (above), and Vance and Rubio barely off-camera to their left, one reporter asked whether the Trump administration would protect from Vladimir Putin’s Russia that eastern portion of where much of Ukraine’s rare metals are being mined.
Before that question, another reporter asked, off-camera, why Zelenskyy keeps showing up at such formal meetings dressed the way he was (above) rather than in a suit. (Fox News has made this a major issue, though it might go away if Zelenskyy wore a black MAGA hat, like Elon Musk when he visits the White House). Yet another reporter, whom the president identified as from One America Network, was heaped with praise by Trump.
The question about whether the US would offer security for eastern Ukraine was from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Rather than give a cogent answer, Trump said something about CNN’s poor ratings.
A Polish reporter was next. He asked whether Trump was “aligning too much” with Vladimir Putin.
Trump, who gushed with admiration for Polish people, responded that “If I didn’t align myself with both of them, we wouldn’t have a deal.”
What deal?
“It was an ambush,” Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic Daily. “The president of the United States ambushed a loyal ally, presumably so that he can soon make a deal with the dictator of Russia to sell out a European nation fighting for its very existence.”
After the White House conflagration, Zelenskyy appeared on Fox News’ Special Report to tell Brett Baier he was “grateful” for America’s help, but he did not apologize.
“This is not good for both sides,” Zelenskyy told Baier. “I cannot change Ukraine’s attitude to Russia.”