Ukrainians have told Sky News they still support Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the wake of his explosive row with Donald Trump.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy had travelled to Washington DC as he was due to clinch a deal on minerals with the US on Friday, but he left empty handed after a heated exchange in the Oval Office.
Under the watch of the world’s media, the final ten minutes of the meeting descended into a shouting match, as both Mr Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, accused Mr Zelenskyy of being “ungrateful”.
Mr Trump berated Mr Zelenskyy as “disrespectful”, while the Ukrainian leader tried to defend himself.
Kyiv citizens speaking to Sky News have said they stand by their president – despite calls from the US for him to stand down and hold an election.
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Nikita, 30, told Sky News: “He is the president, we selected him. So we trust him.”
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He said it was “probably” likely Ukraine would be abandoned by America in the wake of the row, but he said he retained confidence in the governance of his nation.
“But I don’t have confidence on what will happen next,” he said.
“I really hope Europe will awake and maybe replace US support.”
He spoke in the centre of the city, while pushing his seven-month-old child in a pram. When asked about the future of Ukraine, he said if he was not sure the country had a future, then he would not have stayed.
‘Maybe America changed their mind’
Alla said she was “very disappointed” by how the conversation had played out.
“We were hoping for peace,” she said.
She said this morning it felt like “everything had changed, but we are hoping for the best anyway”.
“Ukraine is strong and will stand. That is our power.”
When asked about the potential withdrawal of US support, she said: “I hope Europe will help us. And I think maybe America also changed their mind, because I’ve seen a lot of American people who say they are sorry for Trump’s words, saying ‘I’m sorry, we are not Trump. We don’t think like this’.”
‘Our president was right’
Svitlana, 52, said simply: “Our president was right – we have no choice. Of course we want peace, we want a ceasefire, but Putin will not do that.
“He does not want peace. He wants to continue to totally destroy us.”
She said how, during the Oval Office meeting, a drone attacked medical facilities and other targets in Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, injuring at least five people, according to local officials.
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“This is not the behaviour of people who want peace,” she said.
Dmytro, 30, said it would still be possible to win the war without America.
“It would be hard, but with the help of European Union, with our own production, it would be possible,” he said.
