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(The Hill) – The European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday it has become clear “the free world needs a new leader” after President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sparred in the Oval Office, adding that Europeans should “take this challenge.”
“Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine. We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the ag[g]ressor,” she wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” she continued.
The EU official’s remarks come as several European leaders expressed solidarity with Zelenskyy after a Friday bilateral meeting with Trump and Vice President Vance spiraled into a quarrel between the three leaders.
“Dear @ZelenskyyUa, dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone,” wrote Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on the social platform X.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez shared a similar X message, saying, “Ukraine, Spain stands with you.”
“The truth is simple. Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine defends its freedom—and ours. We stand with Ukraine,” wrote Moldova President Maia Sandu.
Other European leaders who have extended support to Ukraine following the Oval Office spat include the prime ministers of Sweden, Latvia, Norway, Czechia and foreign ministers of Germany and the Netherlands.
The cordial conversation turned contentious when Vance and Zelenskyy discussed diplomacy, erupting into an argument about the Ukrainian president’s gratefulness for U.S. support and ending with Trump calling Zelenskyy “disrespectful” and saying he was “not ready for peace.”
Trump and his administration’s recent actions regarding the three-year-long war have raised concerns among European leaders who are seeking to join the ongoing negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war.
Friday’s hostile exchange has been criticized within the U.S. as well.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., condemned the U.S. leaders, saying, “History will remember this day.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance attacked Zelenskyy and pressured him to surrender the freedom of his people to the KGB war criminal who invaded Ukraine,” Cheney wrote in an X post.
