Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies are taking a victory lap following U.S. President Donald Trump’s chaotic Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
Trump accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” and warned him, “You have no right to dictate what we should feel. You are gambling with World War III.”
“I have empowered you to be a tough guy. You either make a deal, or we’re out. You don’t have the cards,” Trump added.
The exchange caused chaos among Democratic American lawmakers while Russia and some Republicans praised the meeting and Trump’s actions.
“This is a total disgrace,” California Representative Robert Garcia wrote on X. “The attacks on Ukraine, on Zelenskyy, on Biden – a shameful response from an American President.”
Tommy Vietor, a former Obama White House official, wrote on X: “These fucking assholes lecture and condescend to Zelensky and then fluff Putin at every possible opportunity. Absolutely disgraceful.”
Meanwhile, the move was celebrated immediately by Russian state media outlets and Putin’s supporters.
“A fierce dressing down in the Oval Office. Trump told the cocaine clown the truth to his face for the first time: the Kyiv regime is playing with World War III. And the ungrateful pig got a solid slap from the pigsty owners. This is useful. But it is not enough – we need to stop military aid to the Nazi machine,” Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and prime minister of Russia, wrote on Telegram.
A reporter from Russian State news agency TASS was removed from the White House pool.
“TASS was not on the approved list of media for today’s pool,” a White House official told Fwrd Axis News.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday said Trump showed “restraint” by not hitting Zelensky.
“I think Zelensky’s biggest lie of all his lies was his assertion in the White House that the Kyiv regime in 2022 was alone, without support,” she wrote on Telegram.
“How Trump and Vance held back from hitting that scumbag is a miracle of restraint,” she added.
Ukraine Caucus Co-Chair Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), speaking on MSNBC, called the meeting “the Trump-Vance clown show, and it’s horrifying”.
As of this writing, weapons shipments to Ukraine are still scheduled to continue, although Trump is reportedly mulling the decision if it should continue.
