Democrats rushed to protect Volodimia Zelensky after Ukrainian leaders were publicly condemned by Donald Trump at a disastrous oval office meeting.
The US president accused Zelensky of “gambling with World War I,” and his vice-president, JD Vance, called the Ukrainian leader “disrespectful,” and then cut short talks aimed at a process of starting the process of ending a three-year war with Russia.
Zelensky quickly left the White House abruptly without signing a rare and important mineral contract with the United States, which Trump said was the first step into a ceasefire deal he was trying to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.
The Democratic senator came to Zelensky’s defense in a statement denounced Trump and Vance’s “shameful” and “disgraceful” treatment of Ukrainian leaders.
“Every time I meet President Zelensky, he thanks the American people for our strong support,” Delaware Democrat Sen. Chris Koons wrote about X.
California Senator Adam Schiff said: And once the meeting is over, the hero returns to Ukraine. ”
“We’re a sought-after sought-after sought-after,” said Chris Murphy, a Democrat Senator in Connecticut. This whole sad scene. “Arizona Senator Reuben Gallego added, “This is a dishonorable.”
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen described the oval office scene as “beyond disgrace.” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin added: “The people of Ukrainians and President Zelenkie deserve an apology.”
“Trump and Vance are gonna be Zelensky – to do a show of lies and misinformation that will make Putin blush is an embarrassment for America and a betrayal of our allies,” Durbin said. “They’re popping champagne in the Kremlin.”
Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer added that Trump and Vance are “doing Putin’s dirty work,” and that after a calamitous meeting, his party will “never stop fighting for freedom and democracy.”
Sheldon White House, a democratic senator from Rhode Island, has accused Trump and Vance of “behaving like a ventriloquist dummy for Putin.”
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The White House was part of a bipartisan group of senators who met with Zelensky early in the morning before meeting with the president. Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said the hour-long debate showed “strong bipartisan support in the Senate for Ukrainian freedom and democracy.”
Klobuchar later addressed Vance directly in a social media post, saying that Zelenskyy thanked the US both personally and publicly “once” the US.
“Our country thanked Ukrainian patriots for confronting him and the dictators, burying their own, and stopping Putin from marching towards other parts of Europe,” she wrote. “I’ll put you ashamed,” she said.
Tina Smith, another democratic senator from Minnesota, urged her Republican colleagues to “speak up” in the name of “patriotism.” “Once we fought a tyrant. Today, Trump and Vance are bent American knees,” she said.
However, Republican senators rushed to defend Trump, explaining the president’s exchanges as evidence that he “put America first.”
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee thanked Trump and Vance for “facing our country and putting America first.” Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks also thanked Trump for “stopping for America.”
“(Zelenskyy) unexpectedly hopes that while neglecting the president, he will bankroll everything and escalate another eternal war,” Banks writes of X.
