The future chancellor of Germany accused Trump and Vance of provocation

The confrontation that occurred during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington was planned in advance by the US leadership, says future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“I think that the reaction to Zelensky’s words in this meeting in the Oval Office was not spontaneous, but a planned provocation,” says the German politician. Merz notes that he has watched the video recording of the meeting several times and was “shocked by the tone of the conversation.” In his opinion, all this “did not bring any benefit.”

At the same time, Merz adds that such rhetoric is consistent with the general actions of the new US administration. “What we have seen in Washington is a certain consistency in a number of events that have occurred in recent weeks, including the participation of the American delegation in the Munich Security Conference,” he said. Zelensky and Trump’s argument took place in front of reporters on February 28. It began after US Vice President J.D. Vance said that he would soften his stance towards Vladimir Putin in order to resolve the war diplomatically. Zelensky spoke out against playing with the Russian president, recalling that he had repeatedly violated agreements.

In response, Trump and Vance criticized Zelensky, accusing him of wanting to continue the war and disrespecting the American side. As a result, the meeting turned into a brawl, and the Ukrainian president was forced to leave the White House early without signing the mineral rights agreement.

After that, many Western media outlets wrote about the provocation against Zelensky. The New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman called it a “premeditated trap.” The Financial Times article said that “Zelensky was set up to humiliate.” Tom Nichols, an analyst for The Atlantic magazine and professor emeritus at the US Naval War College, blamed Vance for the controversy, noting that he “played the role of a talk show moderator.” The article described the vice president as “an unreliable person trying to show his importance in difficult times.”

Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa criticized Trump — he sent a letter to the US president. “We watched with horror and disgust your conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It is insulting that you expect Ukraine to be grateful for the financial assistance the US provides in its war against Russia. "We must pay tribute to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood defending the values ​​of the free world," Walesa wrote.

The White House is waiting for Zelensky to apologize. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a similar appeal, stressing that the Ukrainian president should not "give a lecture that diplomacy does not work." Zelensky himself said that relations between Kiev and Washington could be preserved, but did not apologize. The head of state also expressed his readiness to sign an agreement with the US on rare metals and move to a diplomatic solution to the war. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”