Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked European leaders for their continued support of his besieged country as the United States has sought a more neutral role in ending the conflict.

“During all this period, and last week, you stayed with us,” he said upon his arrival at a summit with European leaders, an implicit reference to his blow-up in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Recommended Stories

• Hegseth declares 97% drop in illegal crossings since military took ‘operational control’ of the southern border
• Caving to pressure from Trump, Zelensky pledges to sign minerals deal and calls for ‘truce in the sky and at sea’
• Trump cuts off Ukraine aid to compel Zelensky to grovel

The heads of the 27 European Union nations and NATO Secretary Mark Rutte attended the summit.

“We are not alone, and these are not just words, we feel it,” he added. “You made a strong signal to [the] Ukrainian people.”

The Trump administration has completely flipped the U.S. policy toward the war since coming into power, which has had reverberating effects across the globe.

Instead of leading the U.S.-European support for Ukraine’s defense, as it had for nearly three years under the Biden administration, Trump wants to broker an end to the war, even if it means pushing Ukraine to accept less favorable terms.

Zelensky said on Telegram Wednesday that Kyiv and Europe were “preparing a plan for the first steps to bring about a just and sustainable peace. We are working on it quickly. It will be ready soon.”

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Russia-Ukraine envoy, was in the Oval Office for the argument.

He described the fight as “two nation-state leaders coming into a meeting with objectives that were clearly not in alignment with one another, and there was a disconnect publicly between the goals of the two administrations” and argued that Zelensky “clearly wanted President Trump as an effort to get the United States” to “side publicly with [Ukraine] against Russia.”

UK’S STARMER SAYS EUROPE AT CROSSROADS IN HISTORY AS WORLD LEADERS DISCUSS ENDING WAR IN UKRAINE

In response to the fight, the U.S. paused military aid shipments and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Kellogg compared the administration’s decision to “hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose,” adding, “You got their attention.”

Zelensky has since referred to the fight in the Oval as “regrettable” and has indicated he’s ready to finalize the deal he traveled to Washington to sign but didn’t.