German chancellor-designate accuses Trump of ambushing Zelensky

The clash between the leaders in the White House had been “manufactured” by the US, Friedrich Merz has claimed

The US had orchestrated the heated argument at the end of last week’s disastrous talks between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the White House, Germany’s chancellor-designate, Friedrich Merz, has said. 

During a tense meeting on Friday, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Zelensky in front of reporters in the Oval Office. The argument erupted after Zelensky questioned Vance’s suggestion that direct negotiations with Russia would help to achieve a lasting peace. Trump has since accused Zelensky of acting disrespectfully, while many EU politicians quickly backed the Ukrainian leader. 

“In my opinion, 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 Berlin on Monday, according to Euronews.

The leader of the Christian Democrats added that he was “quite surprised by the tone of the conversation” in the White House. “It was not helpful to the cause,” he added. 

Merz said that Germany must “do much more for our own security in the coming years and decades.” 

“We must now show that we are in a position to act independently in Europe,” Merz said. He added that Berlin must “do everything we can to keep the Americans in Europe.” 

Trump has been pressuring America’s NATO allies in Europe to increase their military budgets and to carry the main burden of aiding Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. After winning a parliamentary election last month, Merz stressed that the EU can no longer rely on the US for its defense and said that Germany must become more “independent” from Washington.

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Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, has insisted the claims about “some kind of ambush” were “absolutely false.” State Secretary Marco Rubio blamed Zelensky for the heated exchange, saying that “he found every opportunity to try to ‘Ukraine-splain’ on every issue.”

Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Vance said that Trump had tried to stay “diplomatic” when “Zelensky was kind of needling him.”

“There is a lack of respect. There was a certain sense of entitlement,” Vance said. “I really don’t care what President Zelensky says about me or anybody else. But he showed a clear unwillingness to engage in a peace process,” he added.

Vance confirmed that, following the public spat in the Oval Office, Trump had decided to cut Zelensky’s trip short and demanded that the Ukrainians leave the White House. “He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform shortly after the meeting. 

The blowup on Friday was a culmination of the Trump-Zelensky feud that stems from wider disagreements over how to end the Ukraine conflict. Trump has made it his priority to end the bloodshed by reaching a ceasefire as soon as possible. Zelensky has refused to make any concessions to Russia and argued that a ceasefire was impossible without security guarantees from the US.

Trump has declined to provide specific guarantees and has ruled out admitting Ukraine into NATO or contributing troops to a potential peacekeeping mission.