The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has abruptly left the White House early without a critical minerals deal with the United States, after an extraordinary verbal clash in the Oval Office with US President Donald Trump.
He was expected to sign the minerals deal during his visit to Washington, but talks have been cut short after a bitter exchange with Mr Trump and his Vice President JD Vance.
Mr Zelenskyy has been insisting any peace deal with Russia includes security guarantees from the US for Ukraine.
Mr Trump accused Mr Zelenskyy of "gambling with World War III" and said he had "no cards" to play without US support and accused Ukraine's leader of being "disrespectful".
Mr Zelenskyy had travelled to Washington DC to discuss the minerals deal as Mr Trump seeks to broker an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
Tensions spill over
The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute meeting in the White House devolved into a verbal spat between the leaders.
It started after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin had breached earlier agreements about attacking Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president told Mr Trump that promises of peace from Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted.
US Vice-President JD Vance said, "What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump's doing."
Mr Zelenskyy questioned that, saying, "Putin broke the ceasefire. What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you speaking about?"
"I think it's disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media," Mr Vance replied.
Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Trump then repeatedly shouted over each other, with Mr Trump telling the Ukrainian president that he was losing the war, adding, "people are dying, you're running low on soldiers."
Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy he was not in a very good position and Ukraine was in "big trouble".
"You've got to be more thankful," Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy, adding that the Ukrainian leader is "gambling with World War III."
"I said a lot of times, thank you to American people," Mr Zelenskyy said.
After leaving the White House, he posted on X, "Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit."
[TWEET VZ]Donald Trump threatened to withdraw US support during the stand-off in front of reporters.
"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," Mr Trump said.
"You don't have the cards. Once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position. But you're not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest. That's not a nice thing."
Mr Zelenskyy openly challenged the US president over his softer approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to "make no compromises with a killer".
He also showed the US president photos of Ukrainians who he said had been mistreated by Russians.
At the end of the meeting, Mr Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social.
"I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don't want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Mr Trump wrote.
[Trump x POST]A scheduled press conference from the leaders was cancelled after the verbal stoush.
The Ukrainian leader was also due to meet with US politicians later on Friday, local time, but it is unclear if those meetings will take place.
The unprecedented breakdown in diplomacy comes 10 days after Mr Trump called the Ukrainian leader a "dictator", a comment that came after Mr Zelenskyy accused the US president of living in a "disinformation space".
