Don’t take the bait’: US senator warned Zelensky before spat with Donald Trump

A Republican senator from South Carolina had cautioned Zelensky against getting into an argument during the meeting.

US senator Lindsay Graham had sent a warning to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky just hours before his spat with President Donald Trump on Friday.

Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, had cautioned Zelensky against getting into an argument during the meeting.

“Don’t take the bait. I said, don’t get into arguments about security agreements,” Graham told the New York Times in an interview.

Graham had initially positioned himself as a mediator, but later called for Zelenskyy to “resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or change.” Other Republican leaders also took two ways, either downplaying the confrontation or blaming Zelensky for not showing respect to Donald Trump.

What happened during the infamous meeting between Zelensky and Donald Trump?

Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Washington to sign a minerals deal with the Donald Trump administration on Friday. While in the meeting, he voiced concerns about the lack of a security guarantee against a future Russian invasion in the deal. That triggered an unprecedented confrontation in the Oval Office in full view of the media.

Trump and Vice-President JD Vance accused Zelensky of lacking gratitude. The spat ended with Zelensky leaving the White House abruptly, without securing the minerals-sharing deal that had been widely expected to be signed that day.

During the widely shared interview, Trump pressed Zelensky on Ukraine’s willingness to make concessions to Russia. Vance then joined the fray, accusing the Ukrainian leader of being “ungrateful” for the support the US had already provided. He called for diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Zelensky pushed back on Vance, asking what kind of diplomacy he was talking about. He also listed multiple failed diplomatic efforts that had preceded Russia’s full-scale invasion.

That exchange escalated quickly. Vance accused Zelensky of disrespecting the US President. Trump told him that he was “gambling with World War 3.”