Kyiv still backing Zelenskyy - just after ambush in the Oval Office

There was widespread support for Ukraine's president at home and dismay at his car-crash encounter in the Oval Office on Friday. There was also praise for Volodymyr Zelenskyy's insistence that a peace deal without security guarantees was meaningless, and that Russia could not be trusted.

- Luke Harding

A few commentators have blamed Zelenskyy for not handling Donald Trump better, and have suggested that his famed public relations skills deserted him. Most Ukrainian observers, however, said the country's leader walked into a well prepared ambush, designed to humiliate and belittle him.

The Ukrainian journalist and blogger Illia Ponomarenko told his 1.1 million followers on X: "You simply can't win with people who don't actually want a standard, successful meeting."

He added: "We can talk endlessly about Ze's [Zelenskyy's] missteps and diplomatic setbacks, but the reality is - under any circumstances - he was always going to be called a beggar, a war gambler pushing the world toward world war three, someone who doesn't want peace, isn't thankful enough.

"And, most importantly, someone standing between Trump and his sweet little deal with Putin - who has promised him oceans of gold in exchange for Ukraine."

Striking a positive note, he added: "Ukraine is the coolest country in the world right now - again."