US wants Ukrainian President Zelensky to publicly apologize to mend relations

The US side believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must publicly apologize for what happened at the White House on February 28.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the White House after a tense meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump, February 28. (Source: The New York Times)

Bloomberg news agency quoted a European official on March 1 as saying that the administration of US President Donald Trump has made it clear that they want Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly apologize to mend relations between the two countries.

The request came after a tense meeting between the two leaders at the White House on February 28.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that it was President Zelensky who caused the talks with President Trump to fail, so Mr. Zelensky needs to apologize.

"He should apologize for letting this happen. Don't come here and lecture us about how diplomacy won't work. He went in that direction and it worked out exactly as predicted," Secretary of State Rubio criticized President Zelensky after tense talks at the White House.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the talks as a failure, questioning whether the Ukrainian leader really wanted peace.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz denied allegations that Mr Zelensky was "ambushed" during a meeting with the US President and Vice President at the White House.

According to Mr. Waltz, both the National Security Advisor and the US Secretary of State asked President Zelensky to leave the White House after the meeting.

"It's unclear whether Mr. Zelensky really wants to stop the conflict," Mr. Waltz questioned.

In response to the criticism, President Zelensky said he had no need to apologize.

"I respect President Trump and the American people. I think we have to be very open and honest and I'm not sure we did anything bad," Zelensky told Fox News .

Despite admitting that the public debate with Mr Trump was "not good", Mr Zelensky remained confident that his relationship with the US President could be restored and that the friendship between the two leaders was not lost.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/my-muon-tong-thong-ukraine-zelensky-xin-loi-cong-khai-de-han-gan-quan-he-306118.html