Volodymyr Zelensky actually ended up in “The Fight House” when he went to visit Donald Trump at the White House, according to the Sun’s assessment of the extraordinary, bad-tempered scenes in the Oval Office on Friday. “Trump: No deal, get out,” reads one startling sub-header. Zelensky “risking WW3” reads another. For the paper, Ukraine’s president was “ambushed” by the Trump administration as it pushed for a speedy end to the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“Make a deal or we’re out,” Trump is quoted as saying in the headline on the Daily Telegraph. There was a “shouting match”, the paper reports, as the US leader told Ukraine’s wartime leader: “Come back when you’re ready for peace.” Closer to home, the Matt cartoon looks at disruption to several banking apps on Friday, which was pay day for many in the UK. “I don’t trust banking apps,” says one flat-capped man to his pal, over a pint in the pub. “What if they stop working when [Chancellor] Rachel Reeves urgently needs to access my cash?”
It is “Shock and War” for the Daily Mirror as Trump “stuns world with vile rant at Zelensky” and “Ukraine hero is forced home without a deal”.
“Meltdown in Oval Office” declares the Times over photos of Zelensky and Trump arguing. “Trump tells Zelensky he is risking World War Three,” says one sub-header. “Make a deal or we’re out – and say thank you, demand Americans,” says another. The paper quotes Trump ally Elon Musk as saying on social media: “Zelensky destroyed himself in the eyes of the American people.”
“Zelenskyy’s White House talks break down in blaze of acrimony” reads the headline on the Financial Times over a picture of the Ukrainian and American leaders gesticulating towards each other. An analysis piece says the “spectacle will fill Kyiv’s allies with horror”.
“Shouting match in Oval Office,” reads the headline on the front page of the i paper. “Trump tries to humiliate Zelensky live on TV.” Another headline, this time about British politics, says Reform UK has overtaken both ruling Labour and the opposition Tories in an opinion poll for the paper.
For the Daily Express, Trump appears to have come off worst in Friday’s sparring with Zelensky. “Bust-up leaves Trump’s peace talks in crisis,” its headline says.
For the Daily Mail, it was “A spectacle to horrify the world”. “Raging Trump humiliates Zelensky on live TV, accuses him of ‘gambling with WWIII’ and kicks him out of the White House,” it says.
“Starmy loves nice beavers!” we are told by the Daily Star which reports that the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has “opened the doors to a big beaver boom”. The toothy creatures will be released into the wild in England after the government approved their reintroduction. It is a “dam fine U-turn”, the paper says.
