• Donald Trump and  argued over compromising with Russia during a White House meeting.
•  with Russia or risk losing US support.
• Zelenskyy opposed compromises,  and the deportation of Ukrainian children.

US President Donald Trump and  openly argued in the White House on Friday as they clashed on the need for compromising with what the Ukrainian President called Russia’s “killer” leader.

 as they sat in the Oval Office, telling him to be more “thankful” and saying, “You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel”.

And he told the Ukrainian President that he either “make a deal” with Russia “or we’re out”.

US Vice-President JD Vance, sitting nearby, also attacked Zelenskyy, calling him “disrespectful”.

Zelenskyy appeared to try to speak but was cut off.

The extraordinary outburst came after Trump said Ukraine will have to make “compromises” in a truce with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour three years ago.

“You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think,” Trump said.

US Vice President JD Vance called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 'disrespectful' as they met in the Oval Office. Photo / AFP

But showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy said there should be “no compromises with a killer on our territory”.

“Crazy Russians,” he said, deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.

Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy, who he said was “not acting at all thankful” and not “nice”.

“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people,” Trump said. “You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country – this country.”

The dramatic public breakdown in the long-tense relationship between Zelenskyy and Trump came after their meeting – in front of a large group of journalists – appeared to get off to a friendlier start.

Zelenskyy had said, “I think President Trump is on our side”.

He said that he would be speaking to the US President about the “crucial” need for a so-called US security “backstop” to any European deployments of peacekeepers monitoring an eventual truce.

“This is crucial, this is what we want to speak about, this is very important,” he said.

Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, ending what had been full-throated support for Ukraine’s attempt to defeat the Russian invasion and casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Trump said in the Oval Office that he had “spoken on numerous occasions” to Putin – more than has been publicly reported beyond the lengthy call between the two leaders earlier this February.

Trump had told Zelenskyy that a truce is “fairly close”.

He also said a deal he was set to sign with  would be “very fair”.

The resources deal is intended to give the United States access to rare-earth and other critical minerals as part of an overall plan to help Ukraine recover after a truce.

Zelenskyy told Trump that he should visit his embattled nation. “You have to come and to look.”

- Agence France-Presse