Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to apologize to President Donald Trump for his “antagonistic” Oval Office behavior.
Zelenskyy was kicked out of the White House on Friday after clashing with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance and being seemingly unwilling to consider a peace agreement to end their war with Russia.
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Rubio said Zelenskyy should “apologize for turning this thing into the fiasco for him that it became.”
“There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic,” Rubio added.
“When you start talking about that aggressively – and the president is a deal maker, he made deals his entire life – you’re not going to get people to the table,” Rubio said.
The Secretary of State continued, “So you start to perceive that maybe Zelensky doesn’t want a peace deal. He says he does, but maybe he doesn’t.”
Secretary Rubio just sent a STRONG message to Zelensky
“There was no need for Zelensky to go in there and become antagonistic … I think he should apologize for wasting our time for a meeting that was gonna end the way it did!”
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 1, 2025
Meanwhile on Fox News, Zelenskyy told Bret Baier that he would not apologize.
“No, I respect the president and I respect the American people and if, I don’t know, I think that we have to be very open and very honest and I’m not sure that we did something bad,” Zelensky said. “I think maybe sometimes, somethings we have to discuss out of media, with all respect to democracy and to free media.”
When asked if the squabble was good for the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy said it was “not good for both sides,” but that he cannot fix Ukranian hostility towards Russia.
Zelenskyy just refused to apologize for disrespecting the United States, President Trump & Vice President Vance.
Baier: “I’m not hearing from you a thought that you owe the president an apology…
Zelenskyy: “NO. I respect president. And I respect American people. I’m not sure… pic.twitter.com/VMmjX5p0Q6
— George (@BehizyTweets) February 28, 2025
“This is not good for both sides, anyway, and I was very open, but I can’t change our Ukrainian attitude toward Russia,” Zelensky responded. “This is very clear that Americans are the best of our friends, Europeans are the best of our friends and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, with Russia, we are enemies.”
