"It made me want to throw up": Politico reveals new details of how Europe reacted to Trump-Zelenskyy spat

The news of a spat between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office in February stunned European officials at every level. Politico has now revealed new details.

Source: an article by Politico on 16 April, as reported by European Pravda

Details: As news of the White House spat emerged on Friday evening, many British officials were forced to go back to work, having already left for the day.

"There was a lot of WhatsApp traffic. It was people at home trying to have a night off, but then instantly realising – f**k me, this is really bad," an unnamed UK official said.

One French minister was in his constituency in a remote part of the country when a friend pulled him aside to share the news. "I went back home and got stuck in front of my TV until 01:00," the minister said.

"It made me want to throw up. On a very human level … it shows nothing is sacred," an ambassador in Paris admitted.

French President Emmanuel Macron was in Portugal giving a TV interview when the news broke. After wrapping up, he immediately watched the footage, then picked up his phone as he was being escorted to his plane to call Zelenskyy while on board.

Incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was sent a video of the row by a staff member while en route home to Sauerland. He immediately made several phone calls from his car and tweeted a message of solidarity with Zelenskyy.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy was also stunned. He had just landed at Heathrow Airport, buoyed by what aides described as a successful meeting with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio.

His team had spent much of the day focused on the resignation of Anneliese Dodds, the minister for development in his department. But that political storm was quickly overshadowed by the fallout from Zelenskyy’s Oval Office visit.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer carefully avoided publicly criticising the Oval Office scene, instead calling both Trump and Zelenskyy within four hours of the incident.

The next morning, the Ukrainian president travelled to London, where Starmer met him on the steps of his residence. The British prime minister walked over to Zelenskyy and immediately put his arm around him. Starmer used the London summit to try to rally European countries to form a "coalition of the willing".

Immediately after the summit, Zelenskyy met with King Charles III – just days after Starmer had promised Trump, a known admirer of the Royal Family, a visit with the monarch.

Such meetings are organised by royal palaces, but usually in consultation with the UK government. "People definitely saw it," one US official said.

Trump was reportedly struck by the events of that Sunday – not just Zelenskyy’s meeting with the King, but also the wave of European support that followed. A British official said Trump’s team "didn’t like the look of it … the way the whole love-in landed," suggesting that the US response may have led the UK to step up pressure on Ukraine to enter negotiations in the days that followed.

Background: 

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that following the Oval Office spat, the White House pressured London to issue critical remarks about Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• On 28 February, Zelenskyy left the White House ahead of schedule after a row with Trump and JD Vance.

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