The confrontation between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House Oval Office has left many stunned. The meeting on Friday spiraled into a “virtual shouting match” between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and all of it played out in front of the cameras.

In a major showdown on Friday, the US president accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War Three”, his deputy JD Vance said the Ukrainian leader was being “disrespectful”. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy questioned Vance, “What kind of diplomacy are you speaking about”.

The discussion was centred on the Russia-Ukraine peace deal. “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump said. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out,” Trump rebuked Zelenskyy.

How American media reported the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting

New York Times

The New York Times hinted that the “verbal brawl” transpired as Trump seemed offended on Russian President Vladmir Putin’s behalf. It reported that Trump scolded Zelenskyy “for hostility toward the man who had invaded his country.” Zelenskyy had in the conversation called Putin a “killer” and “terrorist”.

The New York Times further added that “the verbal brawl in the Oval Office on Friday between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine startled Washington, unnerved Europe, outraged Kyiv and delighted Moscow.”

Another article in the NYT was headlined: ‘JD Vance Positions Himself as Trump’s Attack Dog During Blowup With Zelensky’. It reported that the US vice president “ambushed” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “triggering the kind of overheated argument rarely seen in the Oval Office.”

Washington Post

The headline of the top article in the Washington Post read, “Fiery meeting with Zelensky upends Trump’s Russia-Ukraine peace deal”. It reported that “US officials gave conflicting signals about the future of an agreement to end the three-year war, while European allies struggled to make sense of the tense Oval Office encounter.”

Fox news

Fox News did an exclusive interview with Zelenskyy after an “explosive Oval Office press conference Friday. Zelenskyy said in the interview that “it’s not about [being] mad.” He said his frustration with Trump’s administration began after it issued a series of controversial comments in the five weeks after Trump’s inauguration.

“[When you hear] president, vice president or somebody or senators — doesn’t matter, big politicians — when they, for example, say that Ukraine is almost destroyed, that our soldiers run away, that they are not heroes, that Ukraine lost millions of civilians, that his president is dictator. The reaction is that, where is our friendship between Ukraine and United States?”” Zelenskyy said.