President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech to Congress on Tuesday night and—despite a shouting match in the Oval Office just days before—seemed open to restarting talks over access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for continued U.S. security assistance.
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In the House chamber, Trump read from a letter Zelensky had recently sent him saying Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals agreement and work with Trump toward peace. “I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said.
The shift in tone came nearly a week after Trump cut short his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and kicked him out of the White House, canceling a lunch and a planned joint press conference. In a tense scene that unfolded as cameras rolled, Zelensky appeared to irk Trump by not showing as much gratitude for U.S. assistance as Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance wanted to hear and for refusing to accept Trump’s premise that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted to uphold Russia’s end of a ceasefire. Trump also bristled that Zelensky refused to wear a suit for the meeting instead of his wartime black sweater and cargo pants.
Over the weekend, Zelensky told reporters over the weekend that the end of the war is still “very, very far away.” Trump on Monday described Zelensky’s response on Truth Social as “the worst statement” and said the U.S. would “not put up with it for much longer.” Later that day, things got worse for Ukraine and Zelensky as Trump froze U.S. military aid, just as Ukrainian forces are entering their fourth year of fighting back Russian military efforts to seize their territory.
Trump’s rocky relationship with Zelensky goes back five years—to when Trump first held up military assistance Congress had authorized for Ukraine to coerce Zelensky into investigating his political rival Joe Biden. That phone conversation led to Trump’s first impeachment.
Speaking to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Trump said his administration has continued to talk to Russia about ending the war. “We’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”
Trump explained his willingness to talk to Putin by saying, “If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.” Trump added: “It’s time to stop this madness.”
As he described his approach to the conflict, Trump inflated how much the U.S. has given Ukraine. Trump said the U.S. has spent “hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense.” Congress has appropriated $174 billion in assistance to Ukraine since 2022, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Going off script, Trump asked, “Do you want to keep it going for another 5 years?” He looked at Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in the audience, who was clapping for Ukraine. “Pocahontas says ‘yes,’” Trump said, using an epithet he gave Warren during the 2016 campaign.
“Two thousand people are being killed every single week. They’re Russian young people, they’re Ukrainian young people. They’re not Americans. I want it to stop,” Trump said.
