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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that during the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2025 there was no real conflict, and what happened was intended to create a show for the cameras. He said this in an interview that was published on the Pressing YouTube channel on 7 August.
Before recounting details, Kuleba explained the difference between the UFC (ultimate fighting championship) and wrestling.
"In the UFC people really throw punches, break bones, and hit each other in the face. In wrestling it looks just as spectacular, but in fact nobody is really hitting anyone. It’s a show. And that same infamous meeting on 28 February 2025 in the Oval Office—at the moment it looked like the UFC, but in fact it turned out to be wrestling," he said. "Because after 12 in Saudi Arabia the Ukrainian and Russian delegations met, sat in all day, came out with a joint statement, kissed, and proclaimed that under the wise leadership of their leaders—President Trump and President Zelensky—we now support each other."
According to the ex-minister, everyone at that meeting understood the importance of the cameras, and Trump wanted to show off how tough he was.
"When you have three macho men on 1 m² and all three perfectly understand the importance of the camera and a live broadcast, the chances that something will go wrong are maximal," Kuleba noted.
He pointed out that over the past year and a half Trump’s behavior has changed drastically.
A cool guy showed up and started putting things in order
"Trump in his first year and Trump today—there are obvious differences between them. Back then a cool guy arrived and started putting things in order. Then life made its adjustments," he added. "The problem is changing Trump’s mind; an even bigger problem is keeping Trump’s mind on your side after you’ve changed it. Over the past year to a year and a half we went through a period when we changed Trump’s mind. Now we have kisses and hugs. But that in no way eliminates the risk that tomorrow something will pop into his head."
Chronology of the scandal
On 28 February 2025 Trump, greeting Zelensky, who was wearing pants and a sweatshirt with the trident, shook his hand and noted that the Ukrainian president was "all dressed up." During the Oval Office conversation one journalist asked Zelensky if he had a suit. The Ukrainian president replied that he would wear it after the war in Ukraine ends. After the meeting, media reported that the U.S. president was angered by Zelensky’s clothing. Axios wrote about this, citing sources. After this, Zelensky gradually began moving away from the military style, combining it with elements of business dress.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Екссоратник Зеленського пояснив, чому Трамп насправді причепився до костюма президента України". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
