Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed regret that a meeting in the Oval Office with Donald Trump turned into a tense confrontation between leaders of two historically allied nations, insisting that their relationship could still be salvaged.
Hours after the public clash in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance reprimanded Zelensky, accusing him of “gambling with World War III,” the Ukrainian leader defended himself in a Fox News studio interview, agreeing that the disagreement “wasn’t good for either side.”
When asked by journalist Bret Baier whether he owed an apology to the American president, as many of Trump’s Republican allies had suggested, Zelensky did not respond directly.
Baier pressed him again on whether he owed Trump an apology. Zelensky again refrained from giving a direct answer, saying, “I think we need to be very open and very honest. And I’m not sure we did anything wrong.”
Zelensky was in Washington for a meeting with Trump to discuss a controversial agreement on minerals, which Ukrainians hoped would be a step toward unlocking security guarantees from the U.S. as part of a ceasefire agreement to end the grueling war that began three years ago when Russia invaded.
