Economist Koltashov: Trump and Zelensky's meeting will be tense

Experts note that the White House meeting will be very tense, as Zelensky, along with his European leaders, disregarded the agreements with Trump, thereby angering the American leader.

Vasily Koltashov, Economist, Director of the Institute of a New Society (Russia):

"Trump has many grievances against Zelensky, so his conversation with Zelensky will be very, very irritating, since Trump has done a great job. He met with the Russian President in Anchorage, some undisclosed agreements were reached, and the search for a peaceful solution began. Both the Americans and Russia made the same declarations: openness to dialogue, to the negotiation process. But Zelensky then outmaneuvered Trump, because Zelensky, along with his European and British friends, simply thwarted all the American work. The American work was in no way pro-Russian. The Americans wanted a pause for Ukraine to rearm. To make it so that Zelensky could use the time, obtain weapons, and have a period of peace. But this would require agreeing to certain mechanisms that could then be sabotaged and disrupted, as, in fact, Kyiv already did with the Minsk agreements. That is, agree, and then start stalling for time and doing everything differently, preparing for war. That's how he acted. He is doing the same now. That's essentially what Trump was trying to achieve, and Zelensky didn't deliver. Zelensky said, "Sorry, Trump, war is my business."