What a difference six months make.
The last time Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited the White House, on February 28, he was sent home early, after being dressed down before the press by President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
“Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country,” Vance scolded the Ukraine president at one point. The victim of Russian aggression was blamed for being an obstacle to peace.
On Monday, Zelensky returned to the Oval Office. Gone were his military fatigues. This time, the Ukrainian president wore a modern black suit. And he brought backup: the leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, France, the secretary general of NATO, and the president of the European Commission. Though Vance attended the meeting, he kept quiet.
The atmosphere was friendly, verging on a love fest. All of the European heads of state thanked Trump for his leadership. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte singled out the American president for breaking the deadlock in negotiations with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Most striking of all was the rapport between Zelensky and Trump. He brought a handwritten note from his wife, thanking Melania Trump for her letter to Putin asking him to stop bombing Ukrainian children. Trump, for his part, thanked Zelensky for the maps he brought explaining the latest in the war and its lines of control.
What changed between the disaster of that first meeting and yesterday? Three important things.
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Author: Eli Lake
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