The White House meeting between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last month was one of the most dramatic events the world had seen in a very long time. The meeting soon erupted into chaos, with Trump and his deputy, JD Vance, admonishing Zelenskyy for not being thankful and reminding the embattled Ukrainian President that his country did not have the cards.
While many had assumed that Zelenskyy's refusal to sign a mineral deal with the US had triggered the meltdown, a new report has claimed that it was something else.
Time Magazine reported that it was a 'gift' from Zelenskyy that triggered Trump. According to the report, Zelenskyy, like other visiting heads of state, had brought some gifts for the US President. The most notable was Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk's championship belt, which he was to present to Trump during their Oval Office meeting.
Zelenskyy had the belt on a side table near him as he sat down for the meeting with Trump and was planning to hand it to the US President in front of the assembled journalists.
But before handing over the belt, Zelenskyy presented another gift to Trump ¨C a folder containing a series of gruesome photographs showing Ukrainian prisoners of war after their time in Russian captivity.
According to Time, some US officials believe that it was at this point that the meeting went wrong.
"Had Zelenskyy offered the championship belt, the gesture might have lightened the mood. The photos had the opposite effect," the report noted.
Zelenskyy, who addressed the issue for the first time in his Time interview, however, said he did not regret his decision to present the images.
¡°He has family, loved ones, children. He has to feel the things that every person feels. What I wanted to show were my values. But then, well, the conversation went in another direction,¡± Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy left the White House without presenting the championship belt to Trump, but according to Ukrainian media, he did not take it back. According to Ukraine-based UNN, after the heated argument, Zelenskyy left the White House, leaving the championship belt there.
UNN added that a White House staff member found the belt and took it to Trump's private dining room, where it now sits along with other souvenirs as a reminder of the entire episode.
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