After Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left a contentious Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Zelenskyy should apologize.
Rubio, who sat next to Vance during Friday's meeting, told CNN's Kaitlin Collins that the public only saw a portion of what transpired in the White House between Zelenskyy and the Trump administration.
Rubio said that Zelenskyy turned Friday's meeting into a "fiasco."
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"The president’s been very clear; he campaigned on this. He thinks this war should have never started. He believes – and I agree – that had he been president it never would have happened. Now here we are. He’s trying to bring an end to this conflict. We’ve explained very clearly what our plan is here, which is we want to get the Russians to a negotiating table. We want to explore whether peace is possible. They understand this," Rubio told Collins.
The meeting ended without Zelenskyy and President Trump signing a planned agreement that would have allowed the U.S. access to rare earth minerals and energy sources within Ukraine. Although the deal would not have come with any security guarantees, the White House contended that having U.S. interests in Ukraine would have given the U.S. an incentive to secure Ukraine.
"They insisted on coming to D.C.," Rubio added. "This agreement could have been signed five days ago, but they insisted on coming to Washington, and there was a very – and should have been a very clear understanding: Don’t come here and create a scenario where you’re going to start lecturing us about how diplomacy isn’t going to work. President Zelenskyy took it in that direction, and it ended in a predictable outcome as a result. It’s unfortunate."
As Zelenskyy headed to the United Kingdom early Saturday, he wrote on the social media platform X that he is thankful for President Trump and U.S. support, but that "we need to be strong at the negotiation table."
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"We are very grateful to the United States for all the support. I’m thankful to President Trump, Congress for their bipartisan support, and the American people. Ukrainians have always appreciated this support, especially during these three years of full-scale invasion," Zelenskyy said. "America’s help has been vital in helping us survive, and I want to acknowledge that. Despite the tough dialogue, we remain strategic partners. But we need to be honest and direct with each other to truly understand our shared goals."
Despite President Trump's claims that Zelenskyy does not want to bring an end to the war, the Ukrainian leader said his nation is ready for peace.
"We are ready to sign the minerals agreement, and it will be the first step toward security guarantees," Zelenskyy said. "But it’s not enough, and we need more than just that. A ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine. We’ve been fighting for three years, and the Ukrainian people need to know that America is on our side."
