Do not do me a favor if you are going to throw it back in my face. Do not do me a favor if you are going to treat me as if I am less of a person because I need help. I am still a capable person and I am able to do my job correctly. Asking for help is never a bad thing and should never be seen as one. It should be appreciated and there should be a thank you given to that person for their help in the situation. However, do not expect to have your ass kissed. Do not expect me to worship the ground you walk on. Do not expect me to become a “how high?” person when you say jump. This is the type of attitude I saw when the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had during the televised Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28. 

To keep it short, President Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance had a sit down to discuss the war and to sign a mineral deal that Trump claimed would move Ukraine closer to ending the war with Russia. However, Zelenskyy was skeptical about Russia keeping their end of the deal since they had not in the past, which is how they ended up in the place they are today and President Zelenskyy wanted some real security guarantees for his people. V.P. Vance for some magical reason decided that President Zelenskyy was not being appreciative enough, despite the fact that he had already made messages thanking President Trump on X. On Dec. 7 he said “I thank him,” on Jan 10 he said, “ I also thanked him for the unwavering support of Ukraine’s independence.” And on Feb. 12 he said, “ I am grateful to President Trump for his interest in what we can accomplish together.” He even thanked them at the beginning of the meeting for the invitation. 

With that being said, how many more times would they like to be thanked. What is the desired number that would have prevented the blowout they had and prevented both the President and Vice President of the United States from berating the Ukrainian President over his “disrespect.” Because berating someone who came to a sit down to stop the war raging in their country and to stop the senseless death of his people is wrong on so many different levels. War is difficult and no one truly wins because lives have been lost, families have been torn apart and homes destroyed, especially on the side that has less resources to fight the war. The objective of that meeting was not to thank them for the war ending, because it is not over and they still need help, so obviously his focus would not be on that. His main focus seemed to be on taking the steps to end the war and make sure that it remains over. 

Without a doubt, the U.S. has a lot of influence on international affairs and President Trump and V.P. Vance knows this. They know that their support plays a major role in the Ukrainians fighting this war and that is shown with Trump’s following comments: “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards,” “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out” and “ If we’re out. You’ll fight it out. I don’t think it will be pretty.” This display of power was not helpful nor was it necessary because President Zelenskyy already knew this, as does the rest of the world and they should have been focused on the war and the lives lost because of it. 

One sign of appreciation is enough, especially when no guaranteed solution has been proposed. This was a very chaotic meeting that ended in no deals being made and I hope for the sake of all the people involved in the war that these leaders reconvene and come to a mutually beneficial solution.