Zelenskyy on Oval Office spat: 'We have to be very honest'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday evening that he is “thankful” for the help from the United States but wouldn’t apologize for the earlier heated exchange between him and President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office.

“I’m very thankful to Americans for all your support, you did a lot. I’m thankful to President Trump and to Congress [for] bipartisan support and I was always very thankful, from all our people. You helped us a lot from the very beginning,” Mr. Zelenskyy said to Fox News host Bret Baier.

“We have to be very honest and we have to be very direct to understand each other,” he said.

When pressed about a possible apology, Mr. Zelenskyy said, “No, I respect the president and I respect the American people and I think we have to be very open and very honest and I’m not sure that we did something bad.”

He noted that the contentious discussion in the Oval Office “is not good for both sides.”

But, he also said he believes his relationship with Mr. Trump can be repaired.

Mr. Zelenskyy says he is open to negotiations on ending the three-year-old war with Russia but that Ukraine needs “security guarantees.”

“We are ready for peace, but we have to be in strong position,” he said. “What does it mean? Just to know that our army is strong, that our partners are with us, and that we have security guarantees.”

He said the deal giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals, which was supposed to be signed Friday between him and Mr. Trump but was canceled, “is the first step to security guarantees.”

“But I respect my soldiers and our people, our civilians who work and support our warriors. I can’t say, ’Just stop.’ Nobody will stop, because [everybody’s] afraid that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will come back tomorrow,” he said. “We want just and lasting peace. It’s true. We want security guarantees.”

He admitted that it would be “difficult” for Ukraine to survive the war without support from the U.S.

“It will be difficult without your support, but we can’t lose our values, our people, we can’t lose our freedom,” he said.

The Oval Office meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy saw tensions flare over U.S. wartime support for Ukraine. Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance accused Mr. Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful” and not showing gratitude for billions of dollars in U.S. aid, while the Ukrainian leader countered that Mr. Putin cannot be trusted to honor a diplomatic solution to the fighting.

It ended with the scheduled lunch and joint press conference canceled and Mr. Zelenskyy leaving the White House.