‘Facepalming’ Ukraine Ambassador Watches As Trump Zelensky Clash Over ‘Respect’

A video taken at the Oval Office showed the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, closing her eyes with her head in her hands during U.S. President Donald Trump’s fiery exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday (February 28) at the White House.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s meeting with Donald Trump ended in disaster, after the two leaders clashed in an extraordinary exchange before the world’s media at the White House over the war with Russia.Zelenskiy had seen the meeting in the Oval Office as an opportunity to convince the United States not to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.Instead U.S. President Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid into Zelenskiy, saying he showed disrespect, driving relations with Kyiv’s most important wartime ally to a new low. The Ukrainian leader was told to leave, a U.S. official said.An agreement between Ukraine and the United States to jointly develop Ukraine’s rich natural resources, which Kyiv and its European allies had hoped would usher in better relations, was left unsigned. n18oc_world n18oc_crux