The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.

pre-order now
Skip to content
Edit post

US deliberately orchestrated Zelensky-Trump Oval Office clash, Friedrich Merz says

by Tim Zadorozhnyy March 3, 2025 5:52 PM 2 min read
Friedrich Merz, Chairman of the German CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, gives a press statement in Berlin on Jan. 16, 2024. (Marco Rauch/dpa via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

The American side deliberately orchestrated the confrontation during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the White House, Friedrich Merz, the head of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the likely chancellor, said on March 3.

"It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelensky, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office," Merz said at a press conference in Hamburg.

The visit was expected to mark the signing of a long-debated agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. on jointly developing Ukraine's mineral resources.

The press conference between Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump turned into a heated exchange, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance berating the Ukrainian leader. Zelensky left the White House without an agreement in hand.

Trump’s Oval Office clash with Zelensky killed diplomacy
The showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb. 28 shocked the entire world. But instead of analyzing its political impact, let’s focus on the details of manners, gestures, which may seem less important than the issues at stake,

Merz said he was "quite surprised, including by the mutual tone of the dialogue," adding that the incident fit a pattern in recent U.S. behavior.

"There is a certain sequence in a number of events in recent weeks and months, including the appearance of the American delegation in Munich at the security conference, and we are now seeing it from Washington," he said.

At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14, Vance stunned European leaders with a speech attacking European values and calling for cooperation with far-right parties.

According to Merz, these events serve as a wake-up call for Europe's security policy. "I am in favor of preparing for the fact that in the coming years and decades we will have to do much, much more for our own security," he said.

Merz, whose CDU party won Germany's recent elections, is expected to become chancellor once coalition talks conclude.

He has been a vocal critic of the outgoing government's Ukraine policy and has condemned Trump's shifting stance on the war.

On Feb. 21, Merz called Trump's statements about Ukraine "shocking" and aligning with Russian narratives.

Editorial: A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky
It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up. In the past several weeks, the U.S. leadership has demonstrated explicit hostility towards Ukraine and aligned its rhetoric and policy with Russia. The

News Feed

8:17 PM

Ukrainians react to Trump-Zelensky clash.

In the wake of the Feb. 28 clash between U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, the Kyiv Independent went to the streets of Kyiv to ask Ukrainians what they think of the now infamous meeting.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.