Axios: Zelensky Angered Trump with Five Actions During Peace Talks with Russia.

Zelensky Infuriated Trump, Threatening to Halt Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky angered Donald Trump so much during peace talks with Russia that the American leader was on the verge of halting military support for Ukraine.

Axios reported this from three U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.

The conflict between Trump and Zelensky escalated into a verbal war that alarmed European allies. They fear it could embolden Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and reward his brutal expansionist policies.

President Trump is clearly very frustrated with President Zelensky right now

- said National Security Advisor Mike Waltz at a White House briefing on Thursday.

Relations between the leaders have been complicated since 2019, when Trump faced impeachment for attempting to use military aid to Ukraine as leverage to obtain an investigation into Joe Biden's son and his work for a Ukrainian gas company.

According to six administration officials, there were five incidents over the last nine days that angered Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Waltz:

• On February 12, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen met with Zelensky in Kyiv, offering the U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral resources in exchange for actual protection. Trump later told reporters that Zelensky was 'rude' and allegedly arrived late to the meeting because he overslept.
• On February 14 at the Munich Security Conference, Pence and Rubio met with Zelensky to gain agreement on a deal regarding mineral resources. However, Zelensky surprised the Americans by stating he lacked the authority to approve this unilaterally without Parliament.
• On February 15, Zelensky publicly rejected the proposal at the conference. Sources in the White House noted that his press statements asserting that the agreement 'does not serve the interests of sovereign Ukraine' sharply contrasted with more positive comments he made on social media X the day before.
• On February 18, when Rubio, Waltz, and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia to discuss peace, Zelensky criticized the meeting for happening without Ukraine at the negotiating table. An enraged Trump then lashed out at Zelensky at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago, falsely claiming that Zelensky started the war with Russia and has an approval rating of only 4%.
• On February 19, Zelensky responded, stating that the American president 'lives in a space of misinformation.' Following this, Trump escalated the pressure, writing on Truth Social that Zelensky, a former actor, was a 'moderately successful comedian' who became a 'dictator without elections.' Trump refuses to criticize Putin as a dictator.

Pence told the conservative outlet The National Pulse on Wednesday that Zelensky should have expressed his grievances 'in a private conversation with American diplomats... he publicly attacks the only reason [Ukraine] exists right now. And that is shameful. And that is not something that will move the President of the United States. In fact, it will have the opposite effect.'

Despite the distrust and anger, Trump’s team continues negotiations with Zelensky, and a new deal regarding mineral resources, which will be part of a peace agreement, may soon be reached.

However, the deal that appears to be led by Trump may be extremely controversial. Based on public and private statements, Trump's team intends to pressure Zelensky to relinquish Crimea (which Putin seized in 2014), parts of eastern Ukraine, and the Azov Sea coast (occupied during the Russian invasion in 2022).