Trump and Zelenskyy’s relationship: From ‘perfect’ phone call to Oval Office clash
The relationship between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been complex over the years.
Relations between the two presidents extend as far back as 2019, the year the Ukrainian leader took office.
It has since weathered the start of the war in Ukraine, Mr Trump‘s reelection and last month’s heated exchange in the Oval Office, in which Mr Zelenskyy was accused of being “disrespectful” to his country’s most powerful ally.
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Here we look back at the key moments that have helped shape the pair’s relationship and how it has changed over the years.
The ‘perfect’ phone call
One of the first times Mr Zelenskyy spoke with Mr Trump was in July 2019, months after he became president of Ukraine.
During a 30-minute phone call, the US leader suggested that in exchange for future military support for Ukraine, Mr Zelenskyy should help launch an investigation into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
Trump allies alleged Mr Biden had lobbied Ukraine to dismiss its top prosecutor to obstruct a probe into energy fIrm Burisma, which had Hunter Biden as one of its board members.
Zelenskyy and Trump first met at the United Nations General Assembly in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trumo’s request coincided with him appearing to want to weaken Mr Biden as he competed to become the Democratic nominee for the presidential election.
It was this call that formed the basis for Mr Trump’s first impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 on abuse of power and obstruction of justice charges.
Part of the transcript of the phone call Trump and Zelenskyy that was used as evidence during the impeachment inquiry. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump denied wrongdoing at the time and referred to his exchange with Mr Zelenskyy as a “perfect” phone call. He was later acquitted by the Senate.
Mr Zelenskyy later admitted, during his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, that there was “no blackmail” involved in the exchange.
Outbreak of war
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, triggering the biggest conflict on the European continent since the Second World War.
At the time, the Biden administration made steadfast military and political support for Ukraine a centrepiece of US foreign policy, which included huge sums of military assistance.
Mr Trump condemned the war as “appalling”, saying at the time that he was praying for Ukrainians. He even extended praise to Mr Zelenskyy, calling him “brave” for staying in the capital, Kyiv.
Trump shakes hands with Zelenskyy in Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral. Pic: Reuters
In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Mr Trump claimed he would be able to stop the war in 24 hours, adding that he would be able to “get it settled” before even entering the White House.
Doubting the claims, Mr Zelenskyy invited Mr Trump to Ukraine during an interview with Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News, in November 2023.
“If he can come here, I will need 24 minutes – yes, 24 minutes. Not more. Yes. Not more – 24 minutes to explain [to] President Trump that he can’t manage this war [in that time frame],” Mr Zelenskyy told Meet The Press presenter Kristen Welker.
He added at the time that he was unsure if Mr Trump would have Ukraine’s back if he were to re-enter the White House.
Meeting ahead of US election
A month before Mr Trump won the US election, Mr Zelenskyy visited him in Trump Tower, New York.
The trip, which took place in September, came after Mr Zelenskyy told the New Yorker magazine that he thought Mr Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war”.
He added, “many leaders have thought they could, but have been unable to do so”.
Zelenskyy at Trump Tower right before the US election. Pic: Reuters
While in New York, the pair discussed ending the war, with Mr Trump telling Fox News after the meeting that Mr Zelenskyy wants fighting in his country to stop.
Mr Zelenskyy also reissued the invite for Mr Trump to visit Ukraine, to which he said he would accept.
‘Dictator without elections’
Work seemingly began on a ceasefire deal soon after Mr Trump was sworn into office.
Mr Zelenskyy said in February that he was working with a team from the Trump administration, describing the US as the “power that has the ability to not only stop the war but also help ensure the reliability of peace afterwards”.
But relations quickly seemed to turn sour when the US administration held talks with Russian officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia without Ukraine.
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‘Dictator’ Zelenskyy ‘better move fast’
The four-and-a-half hour meeting was condemned by Kyiv, who said talks should not be held behind Ukraine’s back. Mr Zelenskyy also postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia, reportedly as a way to avoid giving the US-Russian meeting “legitimacy”.
The US-Russian meetings appeared to work as a catalyst of dwindling relations between the two presidents, with Mr Trump then suggesting that Ukraine was responsible for starting the war, adding that Mr Zelenskyy had “better move fast” or he would have no country left.
Her later called Mr Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” – a dig at him remaining in office after Ukraine’s general election was delayed due to Russia’s invasion.
He also repeated the claim that the Ukrainian president has low approval ratings – which had already been dismissed by Mr Zelenskyy as Russian disinformation – and claimed American aid money had been misused.
That Oval Office meeting
Despite prior crosswords, relations between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy appeared to be back on track near the end of February, when Ukraine said it wanted to sign a minerals deal with the US, giving them the right to $500bn (£394bn) in potential revenue from the resources.
The deal had planned to be signed during an in-person meeting in the Oval Office, but Mr Zelenskyy’s visit was cut short due to a clash in front of the world’s media.
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Trump and Zelenskyy’s body language analysed
The last 10 minutes of the almost 45-minute meeting descended into a tense back-and-forth, which began with vice president JD Vance telling Mr Zelenksyy: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.
“You should be thanking the President [Trump] for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
As the Ukrainian president tried to object, Mr Trump raised his voice and told him: “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.”
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The back ‘on track’ phone call
Addressing Congress a few days after the meeting in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said he had received an “important letter” from Mr Zelenskyy in which he said he would work under his leadership to reach a peace deal.
The letter appeared to echo what Mr Zelenskyy had said in a statement on social media hours after the US reported it was pausing military aid to Kyiv.
Mr Zelenskyy described the Oval Office meeting as “regrettable”, adding that it “did not go the way it was supposed to be” and it was “time to make things right”.
He also added that he was “ready to sign” the mineral deal, which had remained a sticking point between the two countries.
The pair did not have any direct contact until Wednesday, when they had an hour-long phone call.
Mr Trump described the conversation as “very good” adding that he and Mr Zelenskyy are “very much on track”.
He said most of the call was based on what he discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before.
A case of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite has been detected in a person in the United States for the first time.
The parasitic flies eat cattle and other warm-blooded animals alive, with an outbreak beginning in Central America and southern Mexico late last year.
It is ultimately fatal if left untreated.
The case in the US was identified in a person from Maryland who had travelled from Guatemala.
Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian, told Reuters on Sunday that she was notified of the case within the
last week.
A Maryland state government official also confirmed the case.
The person was treated and prevention measures were implemented, Reuters reports.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Maryland Department of Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
What is screwworm?
The female screwworm fly lays eggs in the wounds of warm-blooded animals and once hatched, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh.
It can be devastating in cattle and wildlife, and has also been known to infect humans.
Treatment is onerous, and involves removing hundreds of larvae and thoroughly disinfecting wounds. They are largely survivable if treated early enough.
The confirmed case is likely to rattle the beef and cattle futures market, which has seen record-high prices because of tight supplies.
The US typically imports more than a million cattle from Mexico each year to process into beef. The screwworm outbreak could cost Texas – the biggest cattle-producing state – $1.8bn (£1.3bn) in livestock deaths, labour costs and medication
expenses.
A view shows a calf after being sprayed with a disinfectant spray to prevent screwworm. Pic: Reuters
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set traps and sent mounted officers along the border, but it has faced criticism from some cattle producers and market analysts for not acting faster to pursue increased fly production via a sterile fly facility.
What is a sterile fly facility?
The case also comes just one week after the US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, travelled to Texas to announce plans to build a sterile fly facility there in a bid to combat the pest. Ms Rollins had pledged repeatedly to keep screwworm out of the country.
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A sterile fly facility produces a large number of male flies and sterilises them – these males are then released to mate with wild female insects, which collapses the wild population over time. This method eradicated screwworm from the US in the 1960s.
Mexico has also taken efforts to limit the spread of the pest, which can kill livestock within weeks if not treated. It had started to build a $51m sterile fly production facility.
The USDA has previously said 500 million flies would need to be released weekly to push the fly back to the Darien Gap, the stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington DC in an effort to mitigate crime will begin carrying firearms, an official has said.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the authorisation of roughly 2,000 National Guard troops to begin carrying weapons.
The majority of the guard members will carry M17 pistols, their service-issued weapons, while a small number will be armed with M4 rifles, reports Sky’s US partner organisation, NBC News.
The troops are authorised to use their weapons for self-protection.
A White House official told NBC News that despite being armed, as of Saturday night, the National Guard troops in DC are not making arrests, and will continue to work on protecting federal assets.
The troops were largely deployed from outside the state and were framed by President Trump as a concerted effort to tackle crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital.
Such deployments are not common, and are typically used in response natural disasters or civil unrest.
Democrats have bashed the deployment as partisan in nature, accusing Mr Trump of trying to exert his presidential authority through scare tactics and said his primary targets have been cities with black leadership.
Armed members of the South Carolina National Guard patrol outside of Union Station. Pic: AP
Pentagon plans to deploy US army to Chicago
Yesterday it was reported that the Pentagon was drafting plans to deploy the US army in Chicago, the largest city in the state.
The governor of Illinois then accused Mr Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” and “abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families”.
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Officials familiar with the proposals told the Washington Post that several options were being weighed up by the US defence department, including mobilising thousands of National Guard troops in Chicago as early as September.
Mr Trump had told reporters on Friday that “Chicago is a mess”, before attacking the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, and hinting “we’ll straighten that one out probably next”.
The governor of Illinois has accused Donald Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” over reports the US president was considering deploying the military in the state.
US newspaper The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Pentagon was drafting plans to deploy the US army in Chicago, the state capital.
It comes as part of Mr Trump’s crackdown on crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration in mainly Democrat-run cities. He recently deployed the National Guard in Washington DC.
In a statement responding to the report, governor JB Pritzker said Illinois had “received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention”.
He added: “The safety of the people of Illinois is always my top priority.
“There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalising the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders.”
The governor then said: “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicise Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.
“We will continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect the people of Illinois.”
Officials familiar with the proposals told the Post that several options were being weighed up by the US defence department, including mobilising thousands of National Guard troops in Chicago as early as September.
The Pentagon said it would not comment on planned operations, adding: “The department is a planning organisation and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”
People protest against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington DC. Pic: AP
Mr Trump, however, told reporters on Friday that “Chicago is a mess,” before attacking the city’s mayor Brandon Johnson and hinting “we’ll straighten that one out probably next”.
Mr Johnson has not yet commented on Saturday’s reports, but said on Friday that the president’s approach to tackling crime has been “uncoordinated, uncalled for and unsound”.
“There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,” he added.
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It comes after around 800 National Guard troops were deployed in Washington DC earlier this month, despite the US capital’s mayor revealing crime in the capital was at its “lowest level in 30 years”.
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What’s it like having the army on DC’s streets?
According to preliminary figures from Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police, violent crime is down 26% in 2025 – after dropping 35% in 2024 compared with 2023.
In June Mr Trump ordered 700 US Army marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in California, during protests over mass immigration raids.
The deployment came against the wishes of state governor Gavin Newsom, who said: “The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate.
“That is not the way any civilised country behaves.”
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