The American president’s special envoy to the Ukraine War, retired General Keith Kellogg, reportedly “advised against” Mr Zelensky’s meeting with Mr Trump at the Oval Office.

Mr Kellogg had negotiated the now-deferred mineral rights deal between the US and Ukraine.

He “advised against” the meeting, “knowing that the relationship [between the presidents] needed to be strengthened” first, the NY Post reported, citing a senior US official.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that frustrations over Mr Zelensky were not exclusive to the Trump administration, pointing to former US president Joe Biden’s 2022 heated phone call with the Ukrainian president.

“These frustrations are not unique to President Trump. There was those frustrations in the previous administration,” Mr Rubio said.

“There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic,” he said, claiming that the Ukrainian president’s approach on Friday made negotiations more difficult.

Mr Rubio insisted that the Ukrainian president apologise for how the meeting unfolded.

A vital deal between Ukraine and the US is in tatters after Volodymyr Zelensky was thrown out of the White House as talks with Donald Trump blew up into a bitter public row.

The US president and his deputy JD Vance angrily accused the Ukrainian leader of gambling with a third world war, claiming he was “disrespectful” and “ungrateful”.

To the shock of the world’s watching media, the Oval Office talks descended into a furious shouting match, ending with the Ukrainian president leaving without having signed a deal pivotal to securing US help in ending the war with Russia.

Mr Trump ejected Mr Zelensky, even when the Ukrainian team were said to have been begging for a “reset” in relations.

The dramatic showdown in the Oval Office began when JD Vance jumped to the defence of the White House’s approach to peace in Ukraine.

Criticising Joe Biden’s approach, Mr Vance said: “The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy.”

Volodymyr Zelensky asked if he could respond. “Sure,” the US vice president replied.

Mr Zelensky then explained that Russian president Vladimir Putin does not have a history of abiding by ceasefires. “In 2019, I signed with him a deal with him… he broke the ceasefire. He killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners.

“What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you speaking about?” he asked, showing defensive body language with arms folded.

Mr Vance retorted that it is “for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media”. Donald Trump then weighed in and the apparent goodwill developed over the last 48 hours fell to pieces.

Prime minister Keir Starmer declared his “unwavering support” for Ukraine as senior Conservative MPs, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, leapt to the Mr Zelensky’s defence after Trump accused Kyiv of “gambling with World War Three”.

A spokesperson for the prime minister said Sir Keir had “tonight spoken to both President Trump and President Zelensky.”

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin writes:

John Townsend, the former deputy assistant secretary of defence for Europe and Nato, called the meeting of the American and Ukrainian presidents at the White House an “embarrassing exchange”.

“This looked like some kind of mafia shakedown. You better do this. You better sign this or, you know, it was just the rudeness of it,” Mr Townsend said, according to ABC News.

“It was really … bad [how] the American leadership looked to the world and how ashamed we should be that our leaders act that way,” he said.

The US president took to his social media platform Truth Social following his heated argument with his Ukrainian counterpart yesterday, accusing Mr Zelensky of disrespecting the US.

“He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Mr Trump said after what he called a conversation under “fire and pressure”.

“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” he said.

Plans for the US to cut all of its ongoing military aid to Ukraine are under consideration, the Washington Post reported citing senior Trump administration officials.

The decision could apply to billions of dollars worth of radar equipment, vehicles, ammunition and missiles awaiting to be sent to Ukraine via the presidential drawdown authority, according to the report.

The American president had said US rights to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources would serve as the country’s repayment for the hundreds of billions of dollars of aid offered amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.

However, White House sources reported that Mr Zelensky was ordered to leave the Oval Office following his heated exchange with Mr Trump and the mineral deal between the US and Ukraine was not signed.

Volodymyr Zelensky has been asked what the pathway to a deal is and how he plans to get ceasefire efforts back on track.

Security guarantees must come before diplomacy, he said.

“I think that Europe is ready to help us with financing of big army, such big as we have now, this is our army as the part of security guarantees,” he said.

“Now we want to just to find the place for our biggest strategic partner for the United States.

“When [we have the security guarantees] we will come to diplomacy.”

Following Volodymyr Zelensky’s heated exchange with the US president at the Oval Office yesterday, Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv rushed to support their president.

At the 45-minute-long meeting, Mr Trump accused the Ukrainian president of “gambling with World War III”, and of being ungrateful to Washington for the military aid provided to Ukraine.

“It is not Ukraine that is gambling with World War Three – more likely we are being used in this game as a bargaining chip,” a Ukrainian business consultant Oksana, who did not give a second name, told Reuters.

“I think it could have been approached in a more diplomatic way, but from the individual point of view I can understand Zelensky because the tone of the dialogue with Trump and Vance indicated it would end like this,” Petro, a 20-year-old Ukrainian student said.

Ukraine’s foreign minister took to X to appreciate Mr Zelensky’s bravery following the tense meeting.

“President Zelensky has the bravery and strength to stand up for what is right,” the foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.