Zelensky appeals to Trump after aid halt

Kyiv, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he wanted to "make things right" with Donald Trump and to work under the US president's "strong leadership" to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.

In his first public comments since Trump halted US military aid to Ukraine, Zelensky said his public bust-up with Trump last week was "regrettable" and pledged to sign a key minerals deal with Washington.

He also called for a "truce" in the sea and sky as a first step to ending the three-year war.

A dramatic collapse in the Kyiv-Washington wartime alliance has played out in the open since an Oval Office clash between Zelensky and Trump last week, crescendoing with Ukraine's top ally suspending crucial military aid.

"My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts," Zelensky wrote on X.

"Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be," the Ukrainian leader added. "It is time to make things right."

Trump's stunning decision Monday to halt aid to Ukraine deepened fears in Kyiv and many European capitals that America was pivoting away from its allies -- and towards Russia.

Moscow hailed Trump's decision, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it a "solution which could really push the Kyiv regime to a peace process".

The European Union, which -- along with Ukraine -- is excluded from US-Russian negotiations towards a potential truce, has been scrambling to bolster support for Kyiv.

The urgency heightened with last week's Trump-Zelensky clash, when Trump warned his Ukrainian counterpart "won't be around very long" without a ceasefire deal.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday presented an EU plan to mobilise some 800 billion euros ($840 billion) for Europe's defence.

The funding, she said, would "massively step up" support to Ukraine and provide it "immediate military equipment".

The EU on Thursday is to hold an emergency summit aimed at cementing joint European support for Ukraine.

 'Stab in the back'

Ordinary Ukrainians speaking to AFP were shocked at what they viewed as a betrayal by Trump.

"It's like a stab in the back," a 33-year-old financial assistant in Kyiv who gave only her first name, Sofia, told AFP.

Trump "wants Ukraine's surrender, the deaths of our people, the surrender of our territories," army volunteer Sergiy Sternenko said on Telegram.

Poland's government noted that America's decision was made without consulting NATO allies, and the impact was already being seen at a weapons and aid logistics hub for Ukraine it hosts.

"Reports coming in from the border, as well as from our hub confirm the announcements made by the American side," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told lawmakers in Paris that "entire trains" carrying US supplies for Ukraine "are being stopped and prevented from reaching their destination".

He said that France would seek to rally "all possible means" to fill the aid gap left by the US decision.

The US pause impacts hundreds of millions of dollars of weaponry in the process of being sent to Ukraine, The New York Times reported.

EU summit

Last week, Zelensky visited Washington to sign the multi-billion-dollar minerals deal -- but that fell through after his showdown with Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Kyiv was ready to sign a deal giving the US preferential access to Ukraine's natural resources and minerals at "any time and in any convenient format".

Ukraine is seeking tough security guarantees for an end to the war.

With the United States opposing its bid to join NATO, Kyiv is turning to other, Western-backed measures.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has rallied to Zelensky's support, spoke with him by phone Tuesday, telling him "no one wanted peace more than Ukraine", Downing Street said.

After weekend crisis talks in London, Britain and France are investigating how to propose a one-month Ukraine-Russia truce -- potentially backstopped by troops on the ground.

Vance, in a Monday interview with Fox News, mocked the idea of "some random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years" sending soldiers to Ukraine. That prompted angry responses from French and British politicians.

Vance insisted Tuesday he had not mentioned France or Britain, and said both had "fought bravely" alongside the United States over the past two decades.