FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 28, 2025. / REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he regretted last week's Oval Office clash with Donald Trump and wanted to "make things right", in a fulsome statement on March. 4 issued a day after Trump halted military aid to Kyiv.

In his statement, Zelenskyy said he supported peace negotiations and was ready to sign a deal giving the United States access to Ukrainian minerals, which he had left on the table when he abandoned a visit to Washington after an Oval Office argument with Trump on Feb. 28.

"My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts," Zelenskyy said in his statement on X.

"We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence," Zelenskyy wrote. "Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Feb. 28, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right."

Zelenskyy outlined a path towards a peace agreement, which he said could begin with a release of prisoners and a halt to air and sea attacks, if Russia did the same.

"Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the U.S. to agree a strong final deal."

Earlier, Zelenskyy's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Ukraine's forces could hold their own on the battlefield against Russian troops, but that Kyiv would do everything possible so that cooperation with the United States would continue.

Trump has upended U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, culminating in the explosive confrontation at the White House on Feb. 28, when Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, upbraided President Zelenskyy for being insufficiently grateful for Washington's backing.

"We will continue to work with the U.S. through all available channels in a calm manner," Shmyhal said. "We only have one plan - to win and to survive. Either we win, or the Plan B will be written by someone else."

TRUMP TO ADDRESS CONGRESS

The Kremlin, for its part, said cutting off military aid to Ukraine was the best possible step towards peace, although it was still waiting to confirm Trump's move.

Trump is expected to further outline his plans for Ukraine and Russia in a major speech to Congress later on March. 4.

His abrupt pivot towards Russia may be the most dramatic U.S. geopolitical shift in generations. Defending Europe from a hostile Kremlin has been the lodestar of U.S. foreign and defence policy under both parties since the 1940s.

Trump's moves have appalled Democrats, but have so far drawn little or no pushback from Republican leaders in Congress, including many who were once strong, vocal backers of Ukraine.

"By freezing military aid to Ukraine, President Trump has kicked the door wide open for Putin to escalate his violent aggression against innocent Ukrainians," said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kyiv has relied on U.S. and European military aid to hold off a bigger and better-armed foe throughout three years of warfare that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Shmyhal said Kyiv was doing more to ramp up its own military production, especially of drones. But air defences could be a particular problem if U.S. aid ends, especially the Patriot batteries that are Ukraine's only defence against Russian ballistic missiles aimed at its cities.

Ukrainian officials have said as much as 40 percent of Ukrainian military supplies came from the United States, with a third from Europe and the rest produced at home. Shmyhal said the aim was to raise domestic production to 50 percent  this year.

The U.S. cut-off is "pretty significant, but not nearly as impactful as it would have been earlier in the war because Ukraine is far less dependent on direct U.S. military assistance now," said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment.

PRESSURE ON EUROPE

The pause puts more pressure on European allies who have publicly embraced Zelenskyy since the Oval Office blow-up, led by Britain and France whose leaders both visited the White House last week and have offered troops to help guard a potential ceasefire.

Europeans are racing to boost their own military spending. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on March. 4 unveiled proposals to raise spending on defence in the EU, which she said could mobilise up to 800 billion euros ($840 billion). The EU is holding an emergency summit on March. 6.

It was now the responsibility of Europe to do everything possible to ensure that Ukraine was able to hold the front line, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers.

"We Europeans are now faced with a choice that is imposed on us: that of effort and freedom, or that of comfort and servitude," he said.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has avoided any criticism of Trump, said the two leaders had spoken on March. 3 evening, without commenting on whether Trump had mentioned the aid freeze.

"The prime minister and President Trump are focused on the same outcome, which is delivering a secure and lasting peace in Ukraine," the spokesperson said.

Ukrainians, who have endured three years of war against a more powerful foe, were stunned by a move many described as a betrayal. Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said it looked like Trump was "pushing us towards capitulation".

"Yes, it is betrayal, let's call it like it is," said lawyer Olena Bilova, 47 in Kyiv. "But let's hope that American civil society and the elites of the European Union will not leave us alone."