Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after Oval Office blowup

President Donald Trump on Monday directed a “pause” to U.S. assistance to Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting as he seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia.

A White House official said Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal to end the more than three-year war sparked by Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, and wants Zelenskyy “committed” to that goal. The official added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.

The moment comes some five years after Trump held up congressionally authorized assistance to Ukraine in 2019 as he sought to pressure Zelenskyy to launch investigations into Joe Biden, then a Democratic presidential candidate. The moment led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Trump in the leadup to his 2024 election win vowed to quickly end the war in Ukraine. He’s expressed increasing frustration with Zelenskyy over the war, while simultaneously expressing confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin can be trusted to keep the peace if a truce in the conflict is reached.

Trump earlier on Monday slammed Zelenskyy for suggesting that the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine likely “is still very, very far away.”

The comments come as prominent Trump allies escalate pressure on Zelenskyy to dramatically change his approach to the U.S. president, who has made quickly ending the war a top priority, or step aside.

The long complicated relationship between the leaders has reached a nadir following the disastrous White House meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance excoriated Zelenskyy for not being sufficiently thankful for U.S. support for Ukraine since Putin ordered the February 2022 invasion.

“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform about the comments Zelenskyy made late Sunday while speaking to reporters in London.

Trump at an event at the White House later on Monday referred to Zelenskyy’s reported comments, and asserted the Ukrainian leader “better not be right about that.”

“If somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long,” Trump added. “That person will not be listened to very long.”

Trump took issue with Zelenskyy suggesting it would take time to come to an agreement to end the war. The Ukrainian leader also tried to offer a positive take on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship in the aftermath of last week’s White House meeting.

Asked by a reporter about the outlines of a new European initiative to end Russia’s war, Zelenskyy said: “We are talking about the first steps today, and, therefore, until they are on paper, I would not like to talk about them in great detail.”

“An agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet,” he added.

But Trump was only further irritated by Zelenskyy’s suggesting it will take time for the conflict to come to a close.

“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. — Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia,” Trump added in his post. “What are they thinking?”

Zelenskyy took to social media soon after Trump’s latest criticism. He did not directly refer to Trump’s comments, but underscored that it “is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible.”

“We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns,” Zelenskyy added. “We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.”

Trump’s national security adviser said Zelenskyy’s posture during Friday’s Oval Office talks “put up in the air” whether he’s someone the U.S. administration will be able to deal with going forward.

“Is he ready, personally, politically, to move his country towards an end to the fighting?” Mike Waltz said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” earlier Monday. “And can he and will he make the compromises necessary?”

Waltz added another layer of doubt about U.S. support as other high-profile Trump allies have suggested that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy is becoming untenable.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Zelenskyy “needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country” for Ukraine to continue pursuing a peace deal negotiated by the United States.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has been a vociferous supporter of Ukraine, said soon after the Oval Office meeting that Zelenskyy “either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.”

Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, said Putin is likely in no rush to end the war amid the fissures between Trump and Zelenskyy and Europe and the U.S. about the way ahead.

“He is not interested in ending the war,” said Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “He thinks Russia is winning. ... And he thinks that as time goes on, the West will be more fractured.”

Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Zelenskyy’s visit last week that would have given the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in part to pay back more than $180 billion in aid the U.S. has sent Kyiv since the start of the war. The White House has also billed such a pact as a way to tighten U.S.-Ukrainian relations in the long term.

The signing was scrapped after the leaders’ Oval Office talks went off the rails and White House officials asked Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian delegation to leave.

Trump on Monday, however, suggested he hasn’t given up on the economic pact, calling it “a great deal.” He added that he expected to speak to the deal during his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, spoke with Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, on Monday about getting the mineral rights deal back on track.

Fitzpatrick after the lengthy call predicted the “deal will be signed in short order.”

AP journalist Tracy Brown contributed reporting.

在一次灾难性的椭圆形办公室会晤后，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周一指示暂停美国对乌克兰的援助，他试图以此向乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基施压，迫使其与俄罗斯进行和平谈判。

一位白宫官员表示，特朗普正致力于达成和平协议，结束由俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰引发的这场持续三年多的战争，并希望泽连斯基“致力于”实现这一目标。这位官员补充说，美国正在“暂停并重新评估”其援助，以“确保援助有助于解决问题”。这位官员在匿名的情况下谈到了援助问题。

这一事件发生在特朗普于2019年扣留国会授权的对乌克兰援助约五年之后。当时，他试图以此向泽连斯基施压，要求其对时任民主党总统候选人乔·拜登展开调查。这一事件最终导致特朗普首次遭到弹劾。

特朗普在2024年大选前曾誓言要迅速结束乌克兰战争。他对泽连斯基在战争问题上的不满日益加剧，但同时又表示相信，如果冲突达成停火协议，俄罗斯总统普京能够维护和平。

周一早些时候，特朗普抨击泽连斯基，因为泽连斯基暗示俄罗斯对乌克兰的战争结束“可能还遥遥无期”。

特朗普的几位重要盟友正加大对泽连斯基的压力，要求他彻底改变对美国总统的态度。特朗普已将迅速结束战争作为首要任务，否则就应该下台。这些评论正是在此背景下发表的。

在灾难性的白宫会晤之后，两国领导人之间长期复杂的关系跌至谷底。在这次会晤中，特朗普和副总统万斯严厉斥责泽连斯基，指责他对美国自普京下令入侵乌克兰以来给予的支持不够感激。

“这是泽连斯基所能发表的最糟糕的言论，美国不会再容忍这种言论太久了！”特朗普在他的“真相社交”平台上发帖，评论泽连斯基周日晚在伦敦对记者发表的言论。

周一晚些时候，特朗普在白宫的一次活动中提到了泽连斯基的报道言论，并断言这位乌克兰领导人“最好别说对了”。

特朗普补充说：“如果有人不想达成协议，我认为这个人不会待太久。这样的人不会有人听他的。”

特朗普对泽连斯基关于需要时间才能达成结束战争协议的说法表示不满。在上周白宫会晤之后，这位乌克兰领导人也试图对美乌关系做出积极表态。

当记者问及旨在结束俄罗斯战争的欧洲新倡议的概要时，泽连斯基说：“我们今天谈论的是第一步，因此，在它们落实到纸面上之前，我不想详细谈论它们。”

“距离达成结束战争的协议还非常非常遥远，而且目前还没有人开始采取所有这些步骤，”他补充道。

但泽连斯基暗示冲突需要时间才能结束，这更加激怒了特朗普。

“我刚才说的就是这个意思，只要有美国的支持，这家伙就不想和平。欧洲在与泽连斯基的会晤中明确表示，没有美国他们就做不了这件事——就向俄罗斯展示实力而言，这恐怕不是什么好兆头，”特朗普在他的帖子中补充道。“他们到底在想什么？”

特朗普最新批评发表后不久，泽连斯基就在社交媒体上发文。他没有直接回应特朗普的言论，但强调“我们必须努力使我们的外交努力真正具有实质性，以尽快结束这场战争，这一点非常重要。”

泽连斯基补充说：“我们需要真正的和平，乌克兰人民最渴望和平，因为战争摧毁了我们的城市和城镇。我们失去了人民。我们需要停止战争，保障安全。”

特朗普的国家安全顾问表示，泽连斯基在周五椭圆形办公室会谈中的态度“悬而未决”，让人无法确定美国政府未来是否能够与他打交道。

“他个人和政治上是否准备好带领他的国家结束战争？”迈克·沃尔兹周一早些时候在福克斯新闻的“美国新闻室”节目中说道，“他能否以及是否愿意做出必要的妥协？”

沃尔兹的言论进一步加剧了人们对美国支持的怀疑，因为其他一些特朗普的知名盟友也暗示，特朗普和泽连斯基之间的关系正变得难以维持。

美国众议院议长迈克·约翰逊周日表示，泽连斯基“需要清醒过来，带着感激之情回到谈判桌前，否则就需要其他人来领导这个国家”，乌克兰才能继续推进由美国斡旋达成的和平协议。

参议员林赛·格雷厄姆是特朗普的盟友，也是乌克兰的坚定支持者。在椭圆形办公室会晤后不久，他表示，泽连斯基“要么辞职，派一个我们可以与之合作的人过来，要么他需要做出改变”。

曾任美国国家情报委员会俄罗斯和欧亚事务国家情报官员的安吉拉·斯滕特表示，由于特朗普和泽连斯基之间以及欧洲和美国在未来发展方向上存在分歧，普京可能并不急于结束这场战争。

“他根本不想结束战争，”华盛顿布鲁金斯学会高级研究员斯坦特说。“他认为俄罗斯正在取得胜利……而且他认为随着时间的推移，西方会更加分裂。”

特朗普政府和乌克兰官员原本预计在泽连斯基上周访问期间签署一项协议，该协议将使美国能够获得乌克兰的关键矿产资源，部分原因是偿还自战争爆发以来美国向基辅提供的超过1800亿美元的援助。白宫还称，这项协议是加强美乌长期关系的一种方式。

由于两国领导人在椭圆形办公室的会谈失利，白宫官员要求泽连斯基和乌克兰代表团离开，签字仪式被取消。

然而，特朗普周一暗示他并未放弃这项经济协议，称其为“一项伟大的协议”。他还补充说，他预计将在周二向国会联席会议发表讲话时谈到这项协议。

宾夕法尼亚州共和党众议员布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克是国会乌克兰小组的联合主席，他周一与泽连斯基的幕僚长安德烈·叶尔马克进行了交谈，讨论如何让矿产开采权协议重回正轨。

经过长时间的通话后，菲茨帕特里克预测“交易很快就会签署”。

美联社记者特蕾西·布朗对此报道亦有贡献。