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Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, Feb. 28, 2025

February 28, 2025 · The White House · 0:49:22

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Oval Office on Feb. 28, 2025, carried on the White House channel. The President said the two countries had a very fair deal and would sign the rare-earths agreement in the East Room after lunch, putting the United States inside Ukraine to work on its rare earths as a big commitment, and said he had spoken with President Putin and wanted the killing of soldiers on both sides to stop. Zelenskyy said he hoped the document would be a first step to real security guarantees for Ukraine and that his people counted on America not stopping its support.

The meeting then turned into an unusually public disagreement, conducted in front of the cameras. Zelenskyy argued that Russia, as the side that began the war, had to pay, pointing to about $300 billion in Russian assets in Europe, as he stated the figure. The President answered that he was in the middle and wanted the war solved, and told Zelenskyy, “You don’t have the cards,” that his people were dying and that he was running low on soldiers, as the exchange was broadcast.

Why it matters

The Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting is the public record of the administration’s Ukraine approach at its most raw: the rare-earths agreement as the vehicle for a U.S. stake, the ceasefire push stated to both leaders, and the disagreement over gratitude, leverage, and security guarantees, all in the principals’ own words.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the Ukraine rare-earths agreement the President said would be signed that day in the East Room, and the ceasefire objective as stated on Feb. 28, 2025 - flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Oval Office, Feb. 28, 2025” (YouTube, 2025-02-28) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.