Zelensky’s statement that angered Trump exposed as US halts all military assistance to Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, made a grim prediction about the war in his country, saying it was far from over. This statement was strongly criticized by Donald Trump’s close advisers, who considered it to be malevolent. In response, Trump made the decision to halt military aid to Ukraine.

Following Zelensky’s comments, Trump quickly arranged a meeting with key officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and national security adviser Mike Waltz. The purpose of the meeting was to devise a plan moving forward in light of Zelensky’s remarks.

Zelensky’s statement came after a summit in London where 18 allies gathered to provide security assurances and demonstrate their support for Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned the formation of a ‘coalition of the willing’ that would work together to propose a feasible peace plan to Trump.

‘The Ukrainians didn’t think we were serious. We had to make a demonstration,’ one official told The Wall Street Journal as Trump confirmed he was cutting aid to Ukraine. 

‘The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,’ a White House official said.

It is understood the ‘pause’ will extend to undelivered aid already earmarked for Ukraine by the Biden administration.

The drastic move comes just days after a Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky in the Oval Office for failing to show gratitude for the $180 billion in US military aid sent to Kyiv since Russia invaded three years ago.  

The aid pause – which the Department of Defense confirmed to DailyMail.com Monday night – could leave Ukraine without air-defense systems, surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and long-range rocket artillery.

The Ukraine leader had already flown to Europe desperately seeking help from NATO allies following a disastrous Oval Office meeting. The war-torn nation could collapse within months without US assistance.

In the leadup to the 2024 election, Trump vowed a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even boasting he could end the fighting in one day and questioning whether Zelensky wanted peace. 

Trump was apoplectic following both White House fracas and the statement from the Ukraine leader claiming the end of the war with Russia was ‘still very, very far away.’

‘This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social website.

White House DOGE leader Elon Musk branded Zelensky ‘evil’ for continuing to pursue war after the president made clear he wants to bargain with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

‘Zelensky wants a forever war, a never-ending graft meat grinder. This is evil,’ Musk wrote on X. ‘Stop sending men to die for nothing. ENOUGH!!’

Earlier Monday night, the State Department said Secretary Marco Rubio insisted a diplomatic end to the war was imperative.

‘We want to get the Russians to a negotiating table. We want to explore whether peace is possible,’ Rubio said. 

‘President Trump is the only leader in the world right now who even has a chance at bringing an enduring and lasting end to the war in Ukraine.’ 

For Ukraine, it could be a debilitating setback for their efforts against Russia for multiple reasons.

Zelensky said in an interview last month that America provided nearly a third of Ukraine’s war machine.

‘The contribution from the United States to Ukraine’s defensive capability and security is now around 30 percent,’ Zelensky said. ‘You can imagine what would happen to us without this crucial 30 percent.’ 

Furthermore, as Ukraine enters the spring, Russia will use the warmer weather to renew its push to try and take more territory in the weakened nation, The Telegraph reported. 

The war continued to rage overnight, with Russia again hitting civilian infrastructure – with a drone striking a children’s clinic in Sumy region, and another attack damaging two kindergartens in Odesa, where energy infrastructure were targeted.

Ukrainian military drones set ablaze a Russian oil refinery in Syzran, Samara region, and a key pipeline in Rostov region.

The strong-arm move from Trump to ‘pause’ US military supplies to Ukraine leaves Zelensky’s defenses facing peril because it will stop vital arms such as Patriot air defense missiles.

Ukraine was severely hurt by Congressional Republicans withholding aid for several months last year. Families were forced to take shelter in train stations in Kyiv while Russia hit the country’s energy infrastructure. 

However, Ukraine has become somewhat less dependent on the US, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace senior fellow Michael Kofman told the New York Times, ‘than it was a year ago.’ 

Reactions largely went along party lines, though there was some resistance from Republicans in swing districts.  

Republican Mike Lawler, who won his seat in New York in a district that Kamala Harris narrowly beat Trump in November, criticized the move without naming Trump. 

‘Stopping support for Ukraine would jeopardize the stability of Europe and the free world,’ Lawler said. 

‘There are strong opinions on both sides of this issue, and I respect that. However, we must be pragmatic about the bigger picture and protect America’s interests abroad,’ he said on social media.

Don Bacon, who won his seat in Nebraska by less than half a point, also slammed the move but didn’t mention Trump, noting that Russia’s supporters were not pausing aid. 

‘There is an invader and a victim, there is a democracy and a dictatorship, there is a country who wants to be part of the West and one who hates the West. We should be unambiguously for the good side,’ he said.

New York Democrat Dan Goldman said that Trump was attempting ‘extortion’ on Zelensky.

‘Basically, he wants Ukraine to cave. That’s the only thing that I can tell,’ he told CNN Monday.

Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican, represented much of the caucus in backing Trump: ‘If Zelensky wants to continue fighting an endless war, let him do it himself. The U.S. will no longer participate in this conflict that has led to the death of thousands. It’s time for peace!’

The order came after Trump met senior advisors on Monday to consider the future of the aid, even as European countries are discussing how to increase their support for Ukraine. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly executed the pause.

Over $1 billion in arms and ammunition will be stalled, as well as hundreds of millions in aid, leaving Ukraine to deal with private contractors, the New York Times reported. 

The Biden administration provided Kyiv with more than $66.5 billion in military aid and weapons since the war began. 

It had left unspent about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding to send more weapons to Ukraine from existing U.S. stockpiles – a sum that had not been affected by the foreign aid freeze that Trump put in place when he first took office.

Although President Biden suspended deliveries of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel amid humanitarian concerns in Gaza, Trump’s move against Ukraine essentially acts as a final ultimatum to Zelensky.

Either the Ukrainian leader capitulate to Trump’s demands or face devastating losses on the battlefield. 

A White House official said Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal to end the more than three-year war sparked by Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, and wants Zelensky ‘committed’ to that goal.

The official added that the U.S. was ‘pausing and reviewing’ its aid to ‘ensure that it is contributing to a solution.’ The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.

A second official told Fox News that ‘this is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause’. 

All of the US’ NATO brethren has promised to increase aid to Ukraine since the disaster meeting, though they are nowhere near as heavily armed as America.

Trump hinted during a press conference on Monday that Zelensky might not survive long as Ukrainian president if he continued to make demands ahead of a peace deal.

‘It should not be that hard a deal to make,’ Trump told reporters at the White House. 

‘It could be made very fast. Now, maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long. That person will not be listened to very long.’

In reply to a post on X claiming that ‘Zelensky knows if the war ends, his power ends’ and branding him a ‘dictator’, Musk said: ‘True. As distasteful as it is, Zelensky should be offered some kind of amnesty in a neutral country in exchange for a peaceful transition back to democracy in Ukraine.’

This echoes a statement by Trump, who also called Zelensky a ‘dictator’ for not holding elections in Ukraine, where Martial Law has been declared since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022. 

On Monday, Trump was asked what Zelensky needed to do to resume talks with Washington. 

‘Well, I just think you should be more appreciative, because this country has stuck with them through thick and thin,’ he said, before repeating a falsehood about levels of American aid.

He added: ‘We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us.’

Trump has been pushing for a rapid deal to end the war in Ukraine ever since he returned to office in January. 

His administration has held talks with Kyiv on a rare earth minerals deal that would allow Washington to recoup some of its costs. 

The disruptive ending of Zelensky’s meeting at the White House on Friday with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance has thrown all future aid to Ukraine into question after the Ukrainian president was asked to leave the White House after the meeting. 

Trump reasserted his record on Ukraine, after suffering a weekend of criticism in the press for his treatment of Zelensky. 

‘The only President who gave none of Ukraine’s land to Putin’s Russia is President Donald J. Trump,’ the president wrote on Truth Social. ‘Remember that when the weak and ineffective Democrat’s criticize, and the Fake News gladly puts out anything they say!’ 

Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz warned in an interview on FOX News Channel’s America’s Newsroom Monday morning that the days of unlimited support from America to Ukraine were over. 

‘The American people’s patience is not unlimited, their wallets are not unlimited and our stockpiles and munitions are not unlimited,’ he said. ‘The time to talk is now.’ 

Waltz said that Zelensky failed to demonstrate that he was willing to work with the United States and Russia to strike a peace deal to end the war. 

‘Success looks like President Zelensky sitting down and talking the terms of peace … what became so evident to us in that session is he’s not ready to talk peace at all but here’s the problem: Time is not on his side,’ he said. 

Waltz said it was ‘really confounding’ that Zelensky blew up the meeting and lost an opportunity to work with the American people for the future of his country. 

‘I think that President Zelensky truly did his country a real disservice by not having a positive outcome on Friday and we’ll see where things are going forward,’ he concluded. 

Zelensky grew frustrated during the Oval Office meeting after Vance spoke about the importance of allowing President Trump to engage in diplomacy with Russia. 

‘What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?’ he asked, after listing all of the ways that Putin had broken previous agreements with Ukraine. 

‘I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President,’ Vance replied, before accusing Zelensky of being disrespectful to President Trump by trying to voice his opposition to a peace deal in front of the American media. 

After the contentious Oval Office meeting, Trump told Zelensky to leave, canceling the planned lunch, and a meeting to sign an mineral deal agreement followed by a press conference to celebrate.

‘I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President,’ Vance replied, before accusing Zelensky of being disrespectful to President Trump by trying to voice his opposition to a peace deal in front of the American media. 

Trump criticized Zelensky for disrespecting the United States in the Oval Office, noting the Ukrainian president did not appear willing to make a peace deal. 

‘He can come back when he is ready for Peace,’ Trump wrote on social media. 

After the disastrous meeting with Trump, Zelensky made an emergency trip to London where he met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European leaders who emphasized their support for Ukraine.

‘The U.K. is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others,’ Starmer said. ‘Europe must do the heavy lifting, but to support peace in our continent and to succeed, this effort must have strong U.S. backing.’ 

But NATO members appeared to be split following the meeting, while Trump accused the UK-led ‘coalition of the willing’ of being weak for relying on an American backstop for peace.

French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a 30-day end to the fighting – but without any security guarantees for Kyiv.

Britain and other allies gave the plan the cold shoulder, as the UK supports the Ukrainian position which is that any end to the war must be secured by an agreement which Russia will be too scared to break.

European leaders were hoping a common policy on Ukraine would emerge following Sunday’s summit, with reports of the French diplomatic effort emerging yesterday. 

When the plan was put to leaders at Sunday’s meeting, none volunteered their support. But out of respect for Macron, nobody spoke against it either. 

Concerns remain among allies over the number of troops countries can provide as part of a post-settlement stabilisation force as Trump rejects using the US as a ‘backstop’ to prevent Russia from attacking again. 

Trump said following the summit: ‘It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelensky, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US.’

He added in what appeared to be an attack on what he appeared to perceive as a weakness of European leaders: ‘Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?’