U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy alongside the NATO leaders summit at the Bestepe Presidential Compound, joined by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
At the NATO summit in Turkey Wednesday, President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "difficult character" directly to his face, then laughed awkwardly at his own comment.
During brief remarks before media questions, as he pointed to Zelenskyy, Trump said, "We've settled a lot of wars, and this one is the one that I thought maybe would be the easiest, but Putin's a difficult character, and this guy's a difficult character!"
Unlike Trump's apparent amusement at the jab, Zelenskyy remained stone-faced and stoic, glaring at the President without reciprocating the laughter.
“It's not the easiest thing,” Trump acknowledged.
He continued, "There's a lot of commitment and there's a lot of love of the countries and everything else," and claimed progress had been made in recent weeks.
The tense exchange highlighted the strained dynamics between the two leaders during peace negotiations.
Watch the video below.