President Zelensky publicly expresses 'regret' over controversial incident at White House

In a post on social network X on the evening of March 4, local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky affirmed: “None of us want an endless war. Ukraine is ready to sit at the negotiating table as soon as possible to move closer to a lasting peace. No one wants peace more than the Ukrainian people. My team and I are ready to work under the strong leadership of President Trump to achieve a lasting peace.”

“We are ready to act quickly to end the war, and the first steps could be an exchange of prisoners and a ceasefire in the air, which means a ban on the use of missiles, long-range drones, bombs targeting energy and civilian infrastructure, as well as an immediate ceasefire at sea, if the Russian Federation does the same. Then we want to move quickly through all the next stages and work with the United States to reach a solid final agreement,” the Ukrainian leader added.

Expressing his appreciation for what the United States has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence, Mr. Zelensky stressed that: “It is time to fix the situation” after his meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on February 28 “unfortunately” did not go as expected.

“We expect future cooperation and communication to be constructive,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Mr. Zelensky said: “Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time and in any convenient form. We see this agreement as a step towards greater security and solid security guarantees, and I really hope it will work.”

On February 28, Mr. Zelensky went to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, to meet with Mr. Trump. The televised exchange with reporters present turned into a heated argument, with Mr. Trump scolding Mr. Zelensky for disrespecting the United States, and US Vice President JD Vance noting that Mr. Zelensky never said “thank you” for all the support Kiev had received.

After this tense dispute, the US and Ukraine failed to sign an agreement on cooperation in the exploitation of mineral resources in Ukraine as planned. The press conference scheduled to take place after the meeting was also canceled.

According to the Ukrainian newspaper The Kyiv Independent on March 3, after the above tense argument, Mr. Trump declared that Mr. Zelensky "is not a person who wants peace."

Mr Trump told reporters on February 28 that the Ukrainian president was “looking for something that I’m not looking for” and again asserted that Mr Zelensky only wanted to “fight, fight, fight”.

Following the dispute between the two leaders, a number of Republican officials and lawmakers have come forward to defend Mr. Trump and criticize Mr. Zelensky, with some even suggesting that Mr. Zelensky might have to resign.

In an interview with NBC News (USA) on March 2, House Speaker Mike Johnson took aim at Mr. Zelensky, suggesting that the Ukrainian leader “needs to come to his senses and return to the negotiating table with gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country.”

On the same day, appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" program (USA), White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz also criticized Mr. Zelensky, declaring: "We need a leader who can work with us, can finally talk to Russia and end this war."

Mr. Waltz then told Fox News (USA) on March 3 that the Trump administration wanted Mr. Zelensky to express regret for what happened, be ready to sign a mineral agreement and participate in peace negotiations.

“We'll see what happens in the next 48 hours, but certainly we want to move forward in a positive direction,” Waltz said.

For his part, after the argument with Mr. Trump at the White House, on February 28, Mr. Zelensky appeared in an interview with Fox News, refuting Mr. Trump's statements, affirming that Ukraine "is ready for peace but we need to have a good position."

“We want peace… that's why I came to see President Trump,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Regarding the mineral agreement, in a statement on March 2 quoted by the German radio station DW, Mr. Zelensky expressed his readiness to sign a mineral agreement with the US.

“Our policy is to maintain what happened in the past. We have a constructive position. If we agree to sign a mineral agreement, we are ready to sign it,” Mr. Zelensky said.