What do Ukrainians think about the Trump-Zelensky clash?

The bitter clash in the White House between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, American President Donald Trump, and US Vice President JD Vance has affected many Ukrainians in different ways.

Some feel pride in their wartime leader, while others temper that pride with growing concern about the future of U.S.-Ukraine relations and what that might mean for their country's three-year war against Russia.

For Andriy Veselovskiy, the former Ukrainian ambassador to the European Union, however, the prevailing emotion was pure horror.

"I regret agreeing to talk to you because I am in a very bad state after what I saw," Veselovskiy told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Ukrainian Service on February 28.

"Raising your voice in the Oval Office to the president and vice president and interrupting them while they're talking is not a style that can help Ukraine's interests."

Zelensky's meeting with Trump on February 28 ended after a heated exchange in the Oval Office, after which Zelensky hurriedly left and Trump said the Ukrainian leader was rude and could "come back when he's ready for peace."

Before the meeting broke up, Trump said Ukraine should compromise and that Kiev should be more grateful for U.S. help in the country's fight against Russia. Zelensky demanded security commitments from the U.S. and said there should be "no compromise with a murderer," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of parliament from the centre-right European Solidarity Party, also said he felt terrified, adding that this was "the end of relations with Trump".

However, for some other Ukrainians, what they felt was only pride as they watched their president's exchange of words at the White House.

Nataliia Serhiienko, a pensioner from Kyiv, told the AP that “Zelensky fought like a lion.”

"They had a tense meeting, a very tense conversation," she said, but Zelensky "was defending Ukraine's interests."

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region bordering Russia, also praised Zelesky, telling the AP that the Ukrainian president did not waver in his stance that there can be no peace agreement without security guarantees for Ukraine.

"Our leader, despite the pressure, remained steadfast in defending the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians," Syniehubov said. "We only need a just peace with security guarantees."

In addition to pride, some Ukrainians also felt anger at how they thought Zelensky had been treated.

"We are seeking democracy and we are facing a complete lack of respect for our fighters, our soldiers and the people of our state," Artem Vasyliev, originally from Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, a region occupied by Russia, told Reuters.

Trump, according to Vasyliev, "doesn't understand that people are dying, that cities are being destroyed, that people are suffering, mothers, children and soldiers."

Whether their reaction was one of pride or horror, most Ukrainians had a common concern: how to improve Ukraine's strained relations with its most important wartime ally.

Former Ukrainian ambassador to the EU, Veselovskiy, said Zelensky's response should have been more restrained and now doubts whether the Ukrainian president will ever be able to enter the White House.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko from Zelensky's Servants of the People party told REL that despite any difficulties, Ukraine should work with Trump because the risk is too high.

"We need to de-escalate tensions," Merezhko said. "We have some connections – congressmen and senators who have influence over Trump… We need to immediately contact these people."

Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitscho wrote on Telegram that he hopes that "Ukraine will not lose the support of the US, which is extremely important for us."

"Today is not the day for emotions from either side. We need to find common ground," Klitschko wrote./REL