The bloc’s top diplomat has voiced support for Ukraine after Vladimir Zelensky’s scandalous White House visit
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has suggested that the United States can no longer act as the “leader of the free world,” after President Donald Trump publicly scolded Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for his disrespect and ingratitude toward the American people.
The meeting between Zelensky, President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday descended into an openly hostile exchange. Zelensky was asked to leave the White House early without signing an agreement that would have granted the US rights to Ukraine’s natural resources, or holding the planned joint press conference.
In response to the scandal, Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and a former Estonian prime minister, took to X to express her support for Zelensky, writing, “We stand by Ukraine.”
“We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the agressor [sic],” Kallas wrote. “Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”
Kallas previously accused Trump of adopting “Russian narratives and talking points” about the Ukraine conflict, and expressed concern over what she described as Washington’s shift away from its longtime European allies.
She also pushed back against criticisms of democracy in the EU made by Vice President Vance at the Munich Security Conference – remarks that Trump praised as “brilliant.”“I refuse to accept that criticism, because it’s just simply not true,” Kallas said.
In recent weeks, Trump has made several critical statements about Ukraine’s leadership, describing Zelensky as a “dictator without elections” and suggesting that Kiev bears responsibility for allowing hostilities to escalate in 2022.
“I have empowered you to be a tough guy, and I do not think you would be a tough guy without the US,” Trump told Zelensky on Friday. “But you are not acting at all thankful, and that is not a nice thing… What you are doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.”
