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      Pro-Ukraine protests erupt across US after Trump and Vance ‘ambush’ Zelenskyy

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      Protests against the Trump administration erupted across the US on Saturday following an unprecedented Oval Office clash, wherein Donald Trump and JD Vance escalated tensions with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Hundreds of protesters gathered in Waitsfield, Vermont, on Saturday morning to oppose the vice-president’s visit to the state for a ski trip with his family.The demonstration had been planned earlier in the week by the Mad River Valley chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots organizing group, but additional protesters said they were motivated to join after watching Vance and Trump’s combative White House meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday.Protesters held signs reading “Vermont stands with Ukraine” and “International embarrassment”, while many waved Ukrainian flags in solidarity. Fox aired video of the protesters, but blurred out signs displaying messages against Vance and in favor of Ukraine.“After what he did yesterday, he crossed the line,” protester Cori Giroux told Vermont Public Radio.On Thursday, the governor, Phil Scott, a Republican who refused to vote for Trump in any of his three runs for the White House, issued a statement calling on Vermonters to be respectful of Vance and his family during their visit.“Please join me in welcoming them to Vermont and hoping they have an opportunity to experience what makes our state, and Vermonters, so special,” he said.While Vance, who admitted Friday he has never been to Ukraine, fled to an undisclosed location to evade protesters, some commentators noted that Zelenskyy, who stayed in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion, was returning to a Kyiv still under attack.The protest followed a contentious confrontation in the Oval Office, where the US president told the Ukrainian leader to make a deal with Russia “or we’e out”. At one point, Trump accused Zelenskyy of not showing enough gratitude for US military and political aid, warning that he was “gambling with world war three”.Zelenskyy countered that he had repeatedly thanked the American people and their leaders for their support, that but Ukrainians did not want to accept a ceasefire with Russia without security guarantees, since Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, had repeatedly broken a previous ceasefire agreement.Following the exchange, European leaders, along with the prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, posted messages of support for Ukraine.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionLeading Democratic lawmakers also rallied to Zelenskyy’s side, with one, the senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, calling the Oval office meeting an “ambush” of the Ukrainian president by Trump and Vance.The aggressive meeting led to protests in cities and towns across the US, including New York, Los Angeles and Boston, where hundreds gathered to express their support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy.Videos posted on social networks showed hundreds of demonstrators gathered in New York’s Times Square, many carrying the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine on their backs. In Los Angeles county, a pro-Ukraine crowd rallied in front of a SpaceX’s facility, and protesters in Boston held an “emergency rally” for “fair peace” for Ukraine at Boston Common.“Ukraine wants fair peace. Ukraine wants the war to end,” the group Boston Supports Ukraine wrote on Facebook. “Ukraine wants all of this on fair terms with security guarantees.”For his part, Zelenskyy posted video of his warm reception in London on social networks, showing crowds of supporters lining the street outside Downing Street, where he was embraced by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer. More

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      How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance

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      JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.But his starring role in Friday’s blowup between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – where he played a cross between Trump’s bulldog and tech bro Iago – may mark the moment that the postwar alliance between Europe and America finally collapsed.Trump and Vance teamed up to goad Zelenskyy into a feud in the Oval Office. But it was Vance that snaked his way in first, riling up the Ukrainian president by telling him that he was leading “propaganda tours” of the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion.“I think it’s disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said, his voice rising. “You bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr President … Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”“During the war, everyone has problems,” Zelenskyy replied. “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”“You don’t know that,” Trump interjected angrily. “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”The rest, as Trump would later call it, was “great television”. By design, it was disastrous for Ukraine.This was Vance’s second great intervention this month. His Eurosceptic worldview came into focus in Munich, where he accused shocked European leaders of stifling free speech telling them that “if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you”.At the time, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said: “Listening to that speech … they try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want to a pick a fight with our friends”.But on Friday, Vance finally got his fight. The US vice-president is quietly assembling a foreign policy team with a deeply skeptical view of Kyiv’s value as a future ally. And European officials have lined up to back Zelenskyy, saying that the Trump team’s performance in the Oval Office indicated that the US was truly siding with Vladimir Putin in the war.“Now is the moment to stay calm, but not carry on,” wrote Camille Grand, a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former assistant secretary general for defense investment at Nato. “The US ally has now officially decided to take a stance inconsistent with our traditionally shared interests and values. This might be temporary or lasting but this will have profound and enduring consequences.”There is a thing in Washington that many people understand but that few will say: that the Trump administration was looking for a pretext to ruin its relationship with Ukraine, and that the canned messaging that followed the Oval Office feels oddly coordinated and premeditated.“That was a train wreck by design,” said Sam Greene, a professor of Russian politics at King’s College London. “The quiet conversation since Munich has been about setting Ukraine up for a fall. If a real deal was going to be unattainable, right, that somebody would need to take the blame for it, and it would likely be the Ukrainians, right?”By Friday afternoon, the Trump administration was briefing reporters that it was so offended by Zelenskyy’s conduct that it would consider cutting all military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition, vehicles and missiles awaiting shipment. The official told the Washington Post that the conflict with Zelenskyy had not been premeditated.But the commentary from party allies was oddly formulaic and repetitive. Lindsey Graham, who had posed for a photo with Zelenskyy just hours earlier, tweeted: “America was disrespected and the deal is off. I have never been more proud of President @realDonaldTrump and Vice President @JDVance for standing up for America First.”Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who has been one of Ukraine’s strongest backers up until his confirmation, tweeted: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!”Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, tweeted: “Was honored to be with @POTUS, @VP, and [Rubio] in the Oval today during the bi-lateral with President Zelensky. As the President has ALWAYS done-he stood for America….America First.”It is difficult to know who is more contemptible: those who wanted this or those who merely went along with it. There is a picture in the Oval Office of Rubio and Vance sitting side by side as Trump rips into Zelenskyy. Rubio looks deeply uncomfortable, his hands clasped and his face downcast. Vance looks ecstatic. He finally got the fight he wanted to pick. More

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      Zelenskyy admits Trump White House meeting ‘not good for both sides’

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      Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed regret that an Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump devolved into a shocking display of acrimony between the leaders of two historically allied nations, while insisting that their relationship could be salvaged.Hours after the public confrontation in which Trump and Vice-President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy, accusing him of “gambling with world war three,” the Ukrainian leader defended himself during an in-studio interview on Fox News, while also agreeing that the dispute was “not good for both sides”.Asked by the host, Bret Baier, if he felt like he owed the US president an apology, as many of Trump’s Republican allies have demanded, Zelenskyy did not directly answer. Baier pressed, and asked again whether he owes Trump an apology. Zelenskyy again did not answer, saying instead: “I think that we have to be very open and very honest. And I’m not sure that we did something bad.”Zelenskyy was in Washington for a high-stakes meeting with Trump to discuss a controversial minerals deal the Ukrainians hoped would be a step toward unlocking security guarantees from the US as part of a ceasefire agreement to end the grueling war, which began three years ago when Russia invaded.But after the disastrous on-camera dispute, Zelenskyy left the White House early, and a press conference to announce the minerals deal was scrapped. The appearance on Trump’s preferred network was scheduled before the Oval Office meeting deteriorated, and Baier announced on Twitter that Zelenskyy intended to sit for the 30-minute interview despite cancelling his other engagements in Washington.European leaders rallied around Zelenskyy, pledging their continued support for Ukraine while Trump’s allies applauded the US president for what they described as a display of “America First”.During the Fox interview, Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked the American people for supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. “From the very beginning, during three years of full-scale innovation, you helped us to survive,” he said.Asked if he believed the meeting was an ambush, as some Democrats have suggested, Zelenskyy said he did not know. “It was just a really tough situation,” he said. Appearing on the network, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, said it was “absolutely not true” that the Oval Office spat was pre-planned by Trump or Vance.Before departing the White House for his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump kept up the pressure on Zelenskyy. “All of a sudden he’s a big shot because he has the US on his side,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Either we’re going to end it or let him fight it out, and if he fights it out, it’s not going to be pretty. Because without us, he doesn’t win.”Zelenskyy concluded the interview with an appeal to the American people. “We are thankful and sorry for this,” he said, adding that he was confident he could salvage his relationship with Trump. More

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      Bullying, berating Trump shows his worst self in Zelenskyy ambush

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      “This is going to be great television,” Donald Trump remarked at the end. Sure. And the captain of the Titanic probably assured his passengers that this would make a great movie some day.Trump has just presided over one of the greatest diplomatic disasters in modern history. Tempers flared, voices were raised and protocol was shredded in the once hallowed in the Oval Office. As Trump got into a shouting match Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a horrified Europe watched the post-second world war order crumble before its eyes.Never before has a US president bullied and berated an adversary, never mind an ally, in such a public way. Of course reality TV star and wrestling fan turned US president had it all play out on television for the benefit of his populist support base – and a certain bare-chested chum in the Kremlin.Zelenskyy had come to the White House to sign a deal for US involvement in Ukraine’s mineral industry to pave the way for an end to three-year war in Russia. There was a hint of trouble to come when he arrived at the West Wing, wearing black – not a suit – and Trump greeted him with a handshake and sarcasm: “Wow, look, you’re all dressed up!”Inside the Oval Office, which has seen much but never anything quite like this, Zelenskyy thanked Trump for the invitation. At first all was sweetness and light as they fielded questions from reporters.There was a minor wrinkle over how much Europe support has given Ukraine, which ended with smiles, a playful but pointed tap on Zelenskyy, and ominous words from Trump: “Don’t argue with me.”But the last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute meeting devolved into acrimony and chaos. Zelenskyy found himself ambushed by Trump and his serpentine vice-president, JD Vance. He was expected to sit back and take a beating from Nurse Ratched and Miss Trunchbull. He refused.Vance said Joe Biden’s approach had failed and that diplomacy was the way forward. Zelenskyy challenged “JD” on this, noting Russia’s betrayals of trust in the past.Vance, who once declared he doesn’t care what happens in Ukraine, was riled. Finger jabbing, he told Zelenskyy: “Mr President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”Uh-oh. The politicians and journalists in the room could surely tell this was going off the rails. At one point the Ukrainian ambassador would put her head in her hands. She was all of us.Zelenskyy tried to push back, asking if Vance had ever been to Ukraine. Vance got angry and spoke of “propaganda tours”. Zelenskyy tried to answer but Trump interjected: “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”The men spoke over each other. Raising his voice, the president said: “You don’t have the cards right now.”Zelenskyy responded: “I’m not playing cards.”Trump, pointing an accusing finger and descending into his worst self from the presidential debates, admonished: “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with world war three and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”TV pro tip: Trump has spent so many campaign rallies warning about world war three that the phrase has lost its shock value.Trump and Vance tried to scold Zelenskyy like an ungrateful child. Vance – who recently went to Munich to condemn Europe as being on the wrong side in the culture wars – demanded: “Have you said ‘thank you’ once?”Zelenskyy tried to respond. Trump told him his country was in big trouble. He went on: “The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States and your people are very brave. But, you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out.“And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty… But you’re not acting at all thankful, and that’s not a nice thing.”Zelenskyy looked shellshocked and Trump commented on what great TV it will be.No deal was done and a planned press conference was cancelled. Zelenskyy drove away empty-handed, having just endured own diplomatic Chernobyl. As for the rest of Europe, a bust of Winston Churchill, looming over the shoulders of Trump and Vance, may have shed a tear or two. More

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      China promises ‘countermeasures’ after Trump threatens additional 10% tariff

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      Donald Trump has threatened China with an additional 10% tariff on its exports to the US, prompting a promise of “countermeasures” from Beijing and setting the stage for another significant escalation in the two governments’ trade war.The US president also claimed he planned to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting next Tuesday, having delayed their imposition last month after talks with his counterparts.Posting on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said illicit drugs such as fentanyl were being smuggled into the US at “unacceptable levels” and that import taxes would force other countries to crack down on the trafficking.“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” the Republican president wrote. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”If Trump makes good on this latest threat, the move would further strain relations between the US and its largest trading partners.In response, China’s commerce and foreign ministries on Friday vowed to retaliate if Chinese companies were affected by the tariffs, accusing the US of using fentanyl as a “pretext” to threaten China.“Such behaviour is purely ‘shifting blame and shirking responsibility,’ which is not conducive to solving its own problems,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said. “If the US insists on proceeding with this course of action, China will take all necessary countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”Canada and Mexico have promised to retaliate if the US imposes tariffs on their exports. China hit back swiftly when Trump imposed a 10% tariff on its exports earlier this month.The Trump administration has repeatedly raised the threat of tariffs, vowing to rebalance the global economic order in the US’s favor. A string of announced measures have yet to be introduced, however, as economists and businesses urge officials to reconsider.The duties on imports from Canada and Mexico have been repeatedly delayed; modified levies on steel and aluminum will not be enforced until next month, and a wave of “reciprocal” tariffs, trailed earlier this month, will not kick in before April.This week, the US president vowed to slap 25% tariffs on the EU, claiming the bloc was “formed to screw the United States”, although details remain sparse. Duties will be applied “generally”, Trump said, “on cars and all other things”.The prospect of escalating tariffs has already thrown the global economy into turmoil – with consumers expressing fears about inflation worsening and the auto sector possibly suffering if the US’s two largest trading partners in Canada and Mexico are slapped with taxes.The prospect of higher prices and slower growth could create political blowback for Trump.Associated Press contributed reporting More

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      Top Democrat says Trump may seek mineral deal with both Russia and Ukraine

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      Donald Trump may be pursuing a mineral rights deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia as well as with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, a top Senate Democrat has warned, discussing the US president’s demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to 50% of its rare-earth reserves, as a price for helping end the war three years after Russia invaded.“I think anything that helps position Ukraine for any peace negotiations is a positive move,” said Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations and armed services committee, who recently visited Ukraine.“Now, what we heard when we were in Ukraine is that 40-50% of those mineral deposits are actually in territory controlled by the Russians. Maybe part of the deal is President Trump is going to get a deal with Vladimir Putin on the mineral rights too. So … that could be a little tricky.”Shaheen was speaking to the One Decision podcast, hosted by the former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove, the former CIA director Leon Panetta and the reporter Christina Ruffini.Saying Ukraine cannot expect to regain all territory taken by Russia, and rejecting Kyiv’s aim of joining Nato, Trump has demanded a deal with Ukraine as repayment for military support. On Wednesday, Trump said Zelenskyy would visit Washington on Friday to sign a “very big agreement that will be on rare earth and other things”.Trump did not offer details of a deal but said he was “not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” adding: “We’re going to have Europe do that.”Trump is due to meet Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, on Thursday. Starmer has said the UK is willing to contribute peacekeeping troops.Shaheen said: “I do think there is support to do everything we can to help get a peace in Ukraine. And from my perspective, one of the most important aspects of that is ensuring that the Ukrainians are positioned in the most positive, favorable way for them. If this deal helps with that, and President Zelenskyy is comfortable signing it, then I support that.”Shaheen said her visit to Ukraine, with fellow Democrat Michael Bennet, of Colorado, and Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, proved “compelling, disturbing”.The senators visited Bucha, where Russian troops carried out a massacre in 2022. The town “showed the resilience of the Ukrainian people,” Shaheen said, adding: “They’re willing to resist. And it showed just what a murderous thug Vladimir Putin is.”Shaheen said the senators “met with the mayor of Bucha, we met with the priest. There had been a mass grave of a couple of hundred of the civilians who were killed. There were over 500 killed in Bucha in that 33-day siege [the final toll is unclear]. It was horrific. It was absolutely brutal. Finding the graves, taking the corpses out of the graves.“We met with the investigators who were investigating each murder individually, and they showed us the picture of the Russian commander who had given the order. And it was very clear that the order was to frighten the civilians, to do everything you can to try and reduce any resistance from the civilians. And for me … I thought this was a small village someplace in the hinterlands of Ukraine, but it’s not, it’s a suburb of Kyiv, and the tanks were stopped right there at the suburb.“So it really pointed out the stark contrast between the Russians and the Ukrainians and what’s at stake in this war.”Trump has stirred huge controversy by seeming to favor Putin and Russia in regards to the war in Ukraine, not least by beginning talks for a settlement without including Ukraine or European powers.Asked about Trump’s lie that Zelenskyy was a dictator who started the war, Shaheen said: “It’s very distressing. And the president’s wrong. He’s just wrong … Vladimir Putin is the dictator. President Zelenskiy was duly elected by the people of Ukraine, and he has a higher favorability rating than Donald Trump.” More

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      USAid workers to be ‘escorted’ back to collect belongings amid Trump shutdown bid

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      Workers at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have been invited back to its office “to retrieve their personal belongings” as the Trump administration continues its bid to shut down the foreign aid agency.An email seen by the Guardian described how staff in Washington would be allowed to briefly return on Thursday or Friday of this week. They would be “escorted to their workspace” and granted “approximately 15 minutes” to gather their items, it said.All of the nearly 10,000 employees at USAid, aside from personnel deemed essential, have been placed on administrative leave. The Trump administration has signaled it plans to cut 2,000 positions.The move comes after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to put thousands of USAid workers on leave, in a setback for unions that are suing over what they have called an effort to dismantle the agency.Staff who spoke to the Guardian sounded the alarm over the impact of these moves on global security, warning that closing USAid and withdrawing foreign aid is “only leaving war on the table”.The agency is “the canary in the coal mine” as Trump seeks to test the limits of his executive powers, said one USAid official, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation and harassment. “We see us as the most acute and boldest example of overreach, that checks and balances ought to restrain the powers of the president and the president should abide by the powers of Congress and the courts.“Can the president act like a king? We’re a glaring flare for all of those things.”The agency has been subjected to attacks and conspiracy theories about its work, with Elon Musk and his supporters making false claims about funding, including a baseless claim about the agency sending $50m to Gaza for condoms, and false claims about grants such as the suggestion by the so-called “department of government efficiency” that $21m had been sent to India to influence elections.Musk has called the agency “a criminal organization” and argued that it was “time for it to die”. Pushed on his false condoms claim earlier this month, he responded: “Some of the things I say will be incorrect.”Health clinics reliant on USAid grants in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Iraq and other countries around the world have been forced to shut down and international aid groups have already cut thousands of jobs due to the funding freeze.The Trump administration is fighting challenges in court to freeze all USAid funding, place nearly all employees on leave.“USAid was established by act of Congress. It needs to be un-established by act of Congress. They are ignoring that rule,” the USAid official said. “I would guess around 500 workers, no one has provided specifics, senior leaders, HR and IT people, are left behind to participate in the dismantling of the agency.”Contracts and grants are still being cut and terminated, with only a small fraction of the agency’s work abroad still continuing, they said. “We’re a lifesaving agency. They certainly have done damage that will take years to undo, but even though they’ve closed the building and banned us from it, we’re not done. We still exist,” they said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAnother USAid employee, who received a reduction-in-force notice, said: “They are not being above board. Nothing is following the law. The level of impunity that is occurring has our own domestic lawyers confused about what’s happening with the courts.”They criticized misinformation and allegations made against USAid, noting their funding is approved and constantly assessed by Congress, with no discretion for employees on how those funds are used. They argued the agency’s dismantling will result in a debt of diplomacy and hurt America’s standing around the world, and said other countries or bad actors will fill the void.“USAid will save you exponentially more money in bullets and blood. We are only leaving war on the table,” the worker said. “We don’t exist as an isolationist country. Our partners clearly don’t appreciate what is happening and are reconsidering how dependable we are, which has been to our benefit for 60 years. How does that make us safe, more secure, or more prosperous?”People “think this is about efficiency”, they added. “It’s a fundamental aspect of democratic governance for people to understand what is happening, and the current administration is taking great lengths to divorce the public from that and let people do whatever they want.”USAid deferred comment to the state department, who were contacted for comment. The White House was also contacted for comment. More

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      Can the ‘special relationship’ survive Donald Trump? – podcast

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      It’s the most important international relationship the UK has, and for decades has been referred to as “special”. Since the second world war, the UK and the US have considered themselves the closest allies, working together for shared values, with any resentments, differences of opinion or cross words kept to private channels.But now Donald Trump is back and he seems keen to throw the usual world order of alliances and enmities into chaos. Keir Starmer’s first meeting with the US president comes at a crucial juncture for Europe, with the future of Ukraine in the balance. “The stakes at the moment could not be higher,” says the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour.He tells Michael Safi what advice Starmer should be receiving from his advisers, including to keep things simple and not to be boring. And what Starmer will be trying to achieve, especially in terms of clarifying Trump’s recent outpourings around Ukraine. “I think the key thing to find out is where does this man lie ideologically,” Patrick says. But if Trump has no allies, only transactional relationships, how much can Starmer hope to achieve during this meeting? More