On Monday, August 18, Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to explore a possible way ahead to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, followed by a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to push the peace talks. The meeting went quite smoothly, contrary to their previous meeting in March.
Trump and his allies took a rather cordial approach during the conversation, and cautiously avoided the behavior that led to widespread criticism the last time. It included Vice President JD Vance refraining from making any comments altogether.
President Donald J. Trump welcomes Ukrainian President @ZelenskyyUa for their second meeting at the White House. pic.twitter.com/A9J31z8XnV
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 18, 2025
People were quick to notice that Vance was mostly quiet during the entire meeting at the Oval Office. Social media is now flooded with comments with fans expressing gratitude that Vance “kept his d-mb mouth shut.”
The meeting in March, which started politely, took a hostile turn, and Vance exacerbated the situation with his comments. Vance, who is a long-time critic of American support for Ukraine, called the Ukrainian president “disrespectful” for not being thankful enough towards Trump.
He said, “Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
Zelenskyy asked Vance, “Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?” And the response was obvious as Vance said, “No.”
While Zelenskyy suggested that he should visit Ukraine once, Vance ignored it and countered, “I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr President.”
He then insulted the Ukrainian leader by adding, “Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”
Zelenskyy insisted that he had done it “a lot of times, even today” – and he wasn’t lying when he said so!
The meeting went down in history as one of the most hostile meetings between the leaders of two countries. Needless to say, being aggressive served no purpose in the peace talks. So this time around, it was better for Vance to remain quiet if he had nothing constructive to add. Fortunately, he did the same.
An X user said, “I think they super-glued Vance’s mouth shut. But overall that went better than I expected.”
Majid Padellan commented, “What a difference it makes when Trump is hemmed in by the adults in the room and J.D. Vance is sitting at the kids’ table instead of trying to ambush Zelensky.”
What a difference it makes when trump is hemmed in by the adults in the room and JD Vance is sitting at the kids’ table instead of trying to ambush Zelensky. pic.twitter.com/k44eNRobSb
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) August 18, 2025
Entrepreneur Alvar Laigna wrote on X, “Thank god that Vance wasn’t allowed to say anything.” Another user added, “See how much smoother things go when J.D. Vance stays silent.”
I’m thankful to @realDonaldTrump that today was a lot more solid event. And thank god that Vance wasn’t allowed to say anything. From far away seems that it was constructive today. Everyone’s wish is that peace will come, Ukraine territories freed and Russia pushed back for good.
— Alvar Laigna 𝕏 💙 𝕏 (@alvarlaigna) August 18, 2025
Someone from Canada tweeted, “Vance is being awfully quiet, like a good little boy,” while a person wrote on Bluesky, “Any time Vance stays silent is a win for humanity.”
The meeting ended with both Trump and Zelenskyy expressing willingness to engage in trilateral peace talks with Russia. Trump said, “We’re going to work with Ukraine, we’re going to work with everybody, and we’re going to make sure that if there’s peace, that peace is going to stay long-term.”
