At a meeting in Washington on October 17, US President Donald Trump called on Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia's conditions for ending the conflict, warning that otherwise his country could be destroyed.
This was reported by the Financial Times, citing European sources familiar with the conversations at the White House.
According to them, the conversation between Trump and Zelensky escalated into an argument several times, with the American president “constantly using obscene language“. The newspaper's sources also reported that the American leader threw out maps showing the current line of contact, demanding that Ukraine hand over all of Donbas to Russia.
An unnamed European official told the Financial Times that Trump warned Zelensky: "If he wants to, he will destroy you." The newspaper's source added that the US president reiterated Russia's arguments about the conflict during the meeting on Friday, urging his interlocutor to accept Moscow's offer.
According to him, Trump told Zelensky that Putin had told him that the conflict was a "special operation, not even a war", adding that the Ukrainian leader must make a deal or he would be destroyed.
The official said that Trump told Zelensky that he was losing the war, warning: "If Putin wants to, he will destroy you."
At one point in the meeting, the US president threw aside the maps on the Ukrainian battlefield, the official familiar with the meeting said. According to the official, Trump said he was "fed up" to see the map of the front lines in Ukraine over and over again.
“That red line, I don't even know where it is. I've never been there,“ Trump said, according to the official.
Trump also said that the Russian economy “is doing great,“ the official said, in sharp contrast to his recent public statements in which he urged Putin to negotiate because “his economy is going to collapse“.
“Zelensky was in a very bad mood after the meeting,“ one of the sources told the newspaper. Speaking about the mood among European leaders after those talks, he said they were “not optimistic, but taking a pragmatic stance as they plan their next steps.”
The White House and the Ukrainian president’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.