Ukrainian community in the Netherlands alarmed by Trump-Zelensky clash

Ukrainians in the Netherlands have reacted with concern to the heated confrontation Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. “That was not good,” said Oleksandr Tomashchuk, spokesperson for the foundation Ukrainians in the Netherlands.

Tomashchuk said Trump deliberately chose to publicly attack Zelensky. “You could see that in the role of J.D. Vance,” he said, referring to the vice president. “He also went on the offensive. He was never this active in the Oval Office, not during meetings with Macron or with Starmer.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Trump earlier this week as part of a diplomatic push, following Trump’s remarks calling Zelensky a dictator and implying that Ukraine had started the war itself.

The Ukrainian community in the Netherlands stands behind Zelensky, Tomashchuk said, though he acknowledged the Ukrainian president’s performance in Washington was not “the best.”

“But he had to push back against all the rhetoric. Ukraine wants peace, but a just peace. Surrender is not peace, ” Tomashchuk added.