"It made me want to throw up": Politico reveals new details of how Europe reacted to Trump-Zelenskyy spat
www.pravda.com.ua
Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:47:25 +0300
The news of a spat between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office in February stunned European officials at every level.
Politico has now revealed new details.
Source an article by Politico on 16 April, as reported by European Pravda Details As news of the White House spat emerged on Friday evening, many UK officials were forced to resume work after already having left for the day.
It was people at home trying to have a night off, but then instantly realising fck me, this is really bad, said an unnamed UK official.
One French minister was in his constituency in a remote part of the country when a friend pulled him aside to share the news.
I went back home and got stuck in front of my TV until 0100, they said.
It made me want to throw up.
On a very human level it shows nothing is sacred, admitted the ambassador of one of the states in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron was in Portugal giving a TV interview when the news broke.
After wrapping up, he immediately watched the footage and, as he was being escorted to his plane, called Zelenskyy from onboard.
Incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz received the video of the quarrel from a staff member while en route home to Sauerland.
He immediately made several phone calls from his car and posted a message of solidarity with Zelenskyy on X Twitter.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy was also stunned.
He had just landed at Heathrow Airport, buoyed by what aides described as a successful meeting with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio.
His team had spent much of the day focused on the resignation of Dodds, the aid minister in his department.
But that political storm was quickly overshadowed by the fallout from Zelenskyys Oval Office visit.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer carefully avoided publicly criticising the Oval Office scene, instead calling both Trump and Zelenskyy within four hours of the event.
The next morning, the Ukrainian president travelled to London, where Starmer met him on the steps of his residence.
The UK prime minister approached him and immediately put his arm around him.
Starmer used the London summit to try to rally European countries to form a coalition of the willing.
Immediately after the summit, Zelenskyy met with King Charles III just days after Starmer had promised Trump, a known admirer of the royal family, a visit with the monarch.
Such meetings are organised by royal palaces but usually in consultation with the UK government.
People definitely saw it, said one American official.
Trump was reportedly struck by the events of that Sunday not just Zelenskyys meeting with the King but also the wave of European support that followed.
A UK official said Trumps team didnt like the look of it the way the whole lovein landed, suggesting that the US response may have led the UK to step up pressure on Ukraine to enter negotiations in the days that followed.
Background UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that following the Oval Office spat, the White House pressured London to issue critical remarks about Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On 28 February, Zelenskyy left the White House ahead of schedule after a quarrel with Trump and JD Vance.
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