US Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested Volodymyr Zelenskyy might need to leave office in order for Ukraine to achieve a peace deal with Russia, as Lord Mandelson says Kyiv should commit to a ceasefire before Russia.

“Something has to change,” Mr Johnson told NBC.

“Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country to do that,” he added, referring to Mr Zelenskyy.

The Republican said “it’s up to the Ukrainians to figure that out”.

Meanwhile Lord Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to the US, told ABC News: “I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow.

“And then, as part of the unfolding plan for this negotiation, the Europeans and perhaps some other countries too have got to consider how they are going to put forces on the ground to play their part in providing enduring security and deterrence for Ukraine.”

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The remarks came two days after a disastrous meeting between the Ukrainian president and Donald Trump and his vice president JD Vance descended into a shouting match in the Oval Office.

Mr Johnson said: “What President Zelenskyy did in the White House was effectively signal to us that he’s not ready for that yet and I think that’s a great disappointment.”

The fallout left a proposed agreement between Ukraine and the US to jointly develop Ukraine’s natural resources in limbo.

The idea of Mr Zelenskyy stepping aside also came up on Friday after the Oval Office meeting, with US Republican senator Lindsey Graham saying the Ukrainian leader “either needs to resign or send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change”.

Meanwhile, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said it is not clear Mr Zelenskyy is prepared to secure lasting peace with Russia.

“We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians and end this war,” Mr Waltz told CNN when asked whether Mr Trump wants Mr Zelenskyy to resign.

“If it becomes apparent that President Zelenskyy’s either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands.”

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said he had not spoken to Mr Zelenskyy since the spat on Friday.

“We’ll be ready to re-engage when they’re ready to make peace,” Mr Rubio told ABC.

But Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar told ABC she was “appalled” by the clash in the Oval Office and said she met Mr Zelenskyy before he went to the White House on Friday and he had been excited to sign an expected minerals deal.

“There is still an opening here” for a peace deal, she said.

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It comes as Sir Keir Starmer hosted a summit between Mr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in an effort to get a peace plan back on track.

The prime minister said the UK, France and Ukraine would work on a ceasefire plan to present to the US.

Sir Keir, who visited Washington on Thursday, said he believes Mr Trump does want a “lasting peace” but warned Europe is in a “moment of real fragility” and he would not trust the word of Vladimir Putin.

Mr Zelenskyy will later meet the King.

It was a meeting to kick off a day of joint engagements – but Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sit-down saw White House schedules hastily redrawn.

The pair met in the Oval Office to discuss a minerals deal – which was supposed to be signed later on – and negotiations over ceasefire agreement with Russia.

It started politely enough but around 35 minutes in, the meeting took a quick and unexpected turn. Its demise was fuelled by comments from the man beside the US president: JD Vance.

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A long-time critic of American support for Ukraine, the vice president berated Mr Zelenskyy for airing disagreements in front of the media – and as he did so, he made a number of claims about topics including the Ukrainian military, official visits to Kyiv and Mr Zelenskyy’s political affiliations.

Here, we look at the VP’s comments and additional context surrounding them.

Ukraine is ‘forcing conscripts to the frontlines’

Tensions began to rise as Mr Vance called the Ukrainian president “disrespectful” – an accusation Mr Trump repeated as the exchange hit its most intense moments.

Mr Vance added: “Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems.

“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

His statement that Ukraine is relying on conscription is correct. With some exceptions – such as health issues – Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country and anyone who reaches the age of 25 is conscripted unless they have already volunteered or are exempt.

Conscription is not unusual for armies locked in warfare. It was used by multiple countries during World War One and World War Two, and during the Vietnam War, the US government drafted men to fight via lotteries.

Russia is not using conscription to specifically recruit troops for the Ukraine war. But, with a few exceptions, all Russian men aged between 18 and 30 must complete a year of military service – and some of them have been sent to areas such as the Kursk region during the conflict.

‘Propaganda tour’

In response to the conscription comment, Mr Zelenskyy asked the VP: “Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?”

The answer, as Mr Zelenskyy knew, was no.

Ignoring the suggestion that he should visit, Mr Vance countered: “I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr President.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, dozens of world leaders have visited the country. Among them are Joe Biden and Sir Keir Starmer, along with then British prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

The world’s media – including Sky News correspondents – have also reported from the frontlines.

It’s unclear why Mr Vance considers these trips “propaganda tours” but it’s a term our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett has encountered frequently: he says it’s a phrase “one hears on Russian state media on an almost daily basis”.

‘Zelenskyy hasn’t said thank you’

Another sticking point for Mr Vance was whether Mr Zelenskyy was thankful enough for the US’s help.

“Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting?” he asked. “Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”

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Mr Zelenskyy insisted he had done so “a lot of times, even today” and a glance back at just the past two years proves this to be true.

On X, he thanked the US and then president Mr Biden on 21 January 2022, 1 July, 2022, 19 August 2022, 20 November the following year, in March 2024 and as recently as 10 January.

He also shared thanks in person when he met Mr Biden in the Oval Office on 21 December 2022, and in speeches in Washington DC on 11 December 2023 and 10 July 2024.

Mr Zelenskyy has thanked Mr Trump since his election win in November last year. On 7 December, he labelled the then president-elect “resolute” and said: “I thank him.”

On 12 February, after a “meaningful conversation” with Mr Trump, he wrote: “I am grateful to President Trump for his interest in what we can accomplish together.”

This is a non-exhaustive list.

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Zelenskyy ‘campaigned’ for the Democrats

Amid the row over a perceived lack of gratefulness, Mr Vance told Mr Zelenskyy: “You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October.”

The Ukrainian president’s reply was simply “no”.

Mr Zelenskyy did visit Pennsylvania alongside the state’s governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, in September last year, but he wasn’t on the campaign trail.

Under tight security Mr Zelenskyy visited an ammunition factory to thank workers for producing vital munitions for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

He wrote on X afterwards: “It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail.

“Thanks to people like these – in Ukraine, in America, and in all partner countries – who work tirelessly to ensure that life is protected.”

On the same trip, he met with Mr Trump in New York.

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