Europe needs to ‘step up’ or Zelenskyy needs to ‘step down’: What’s next after explosive Oval Office meeting

Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations came to a screeching halt Friday after an Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy erupted in anger. 

The world is now left wondering where negotiations go from here and whether the two world leaders can repair their relationship enough for the U.S. to broker peace. Some say Europe may need to step up and get involved to help end the hostilities, while others think Zelenskyy either needs to do major damage control or step down. 

“It is hard to foresee what happens next,” one European official told Fox News Digital. “The optics of it were simply terrible. … This is another sign for Europe to get its act together and support Ukraine. Mobilize Russia’s foreign assets. Purchase arms for Ukraine. Increase defense spending this year. Move forward with EU membership. There are things Europe can do to help Ukraine build leverage.” 

Trump said he did not believe Zelenskyy was “ready” for U.S. involvement in the peace process, and Republicans who once supported aiding Ukraine’s fight against Russia seem to have grown tired of the Ukrainian leader. 

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a one-time staunch supporter of Ukraine, said after the meeting that the war-torn nation may need to seek a new leader who can work with Trump. 

“The question for me, for the Ukrainian people … I don’t know if Zelensky can ever get you where you want to go with the United States. Either he dramatically changes or you gotta get someone new,” said Graham. 

Another former State Department official said Europe needs to have an “emergency meeting” to figure out how to move forward. 

“I think we’re gonna have to see an emergency meeting of the Europeans with the United States, and I think there’s gonna have to be a little bit of a cooling down right now between Zelenskyy and the U.S.,” said Joel Rubin, a deputy assistant secretary of state during the Obama administration. 

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“That Oval meeting was either the bane of Zelenskyy’s political career or the bane of Ukraine,” said former Rep. Mike Garcia, a Republican who served as an informal liaison between Speaker Mike Johnson and rank-and-file House members on Ukraine. “One of those two will cease to exist in the next few months.”

He added that Friday’s spat was a natural result of Zelenskyy operating under a “blank check mentality.” 

“The pill that Zelenskyy seems to not have swallowed yet is that he’s not going to get everything that he wants,” Garcia told Fox News Digital. “He was humiliated on the global stage in a time when his people needed him to be a little more gracious and grateful for this stuff that he’s gotten.

“He needs to come back and say he is very grateful for what he has gotten, say ‘I am alive because of the United States. I’m willing to sit down and negotiate in good faith for a peace agreement that may not yield everything that I want and may not, you know, certainly won’t get us to the borders that we had in 2012-2013 before the Crimea invasion.’”

The White House was taken by surprise at Zelenskyy’s “combativeness” after President Donald Trump accused him of being a “dictator” last week and invited him to the White House to sign a mineral deal this week. 

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“The president and vice president did not expect Zelenskyy to engage in such disrespectful behavior,” a source close to Vance said. 

The testy White House meeting was cut short as aides escorted Zelenskyy off the premises before closed-door negotiations had even begun. 

“You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards,” Trump told Zelenskyy.

Vance accused Zelenskyy of trying to litigate their issues in front of the U.S. media.

“Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country, please,” Vance told Zelenskyy.

“Have you ever been to Ukraine? Have you seen the problems we have? Come once,” the Ukrainian president replied. 

Trump announced after the meeting that Zelenskyy may return to the Oval Office “when he is ready for peace.” 

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure,” Trump wrote. 

“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”