House speaker suggests Ukrainians vote in different leadership after Zelenskyy refuses Trump's deal

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that “something has to change” if Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy continues to thwart President Trump’s push for a peace deal with Russia.

The Louisiana Republican said he was disappointed with how Mr. Zelenskyy acted in Friday’s heated exchange with Mr. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. He said a political shakeup might be necessary if the Ukrainian president does not change his tune.

“Sometime has to change,” Mr. Johnson said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “Either he needs to come to his senses and come to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.”

“It is up to the Ukrainians to figure that out,” he said.

Mr. Zelenskyy’s future and the peace deal with Russia were thrown into doubt after the fiery meeting with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office.

Mr. Zelenskyy left without signing a minerals deal, which is considered a key piece of the Trump administration’s push toward winding down the three-year-old war.

Echoing most of his GOP colleagues, Mr. Johnson said it is Mr. Zelenskyy — not Mr. Trump — who was out of line in the White House meeting.

“It is not the president and vice president that berated Zelenskyy. I saw it the other way around,” he said. “I saw Zeleneskyy, rather stiff-necked in the Oval Office, instead of being gracious and saying thank you and looking for a way out of this mess, he did quite the opposite.”

Mr. Johnson said he has “never seen anything like President Zelenskyy’s behavior there.”

“I hope and pray that President Zelenskyy will come to his senses, will come back to President Trump, express gratitude as he should, apologize for his behavior there, and accept this mineral rights deal,” he said.

Rep. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, said he disagrees with the suggestion that Mr. Zelenskyy should resign.

“I am not interested in calling for the resignation of other world leaders,” Mr. Lankford said on “Meet the Press.” “Quite frankly, I think that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now, trying to find who is the negotiator to bring an issue to peace.”