White House clash: Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ turns Ukraine into a commodity

Trump’s White House showdown with Zelenskyy reveals a chilling shift — Ukraine’s survival now depends on minerals-for-aid deals

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy leaves the White House after a meeting with US president Donald Trump in Washington. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

Clarity emerged at Friday’s macabre theatre at the White House: Handshakes, a thumbs up, and some fist pumps from the US president, before Donald Trump sat side by side with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss a minerals-for-war-support deal and to humiliate him. 

At the same time, air raid sirens were sounding in northern and eastern Ukraine.