KYIV, Ukraine, March 1, (AP): Soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the White House on Friday after an astonishing Oval Office blowout with President Donald Trump, Ukrainians rallied around Zelenskyy as a defender of his country's interests. The shouting match that unfolded in the final minutes of the highly anticipated meeting between the two leaders seemed to dash, at least for now, Ukrainian hopes that the United States could be locked in as a reliable partner in helping fend off, and conclude, Russia's three-year onslaught.

The exchange, which saw a frustrated Zelenskyy lectured by Trump and Vice President JD Vance over what they saw as his lack of gratitude for previous US support, delighted officials in Moscow, who saw it as a final breakdown in relations between Washington and the Ukrainian leader. But many Ukrainians on Friday seemed unfazed by the blowout between Zelenskyy and Trump, expressing a sense that the Ukrainian leader had stood up for their country’s dignity and interests by firmly maintaining his stance in the face of chiding from some of the world’s most powerful men.

Nataliia Serhiienko, 67, a retiree in Kyiv, said she thinks Ukrainians approve of their president's performance in Washington, "because Zelenskyy fought like a lion.” "They had a heated meeting, a very heated conversation,” she said. But Zelenskyy "was defending Ukraine’s interests.” The meeting at the White House was meant to produce a bilateral agreement that would establish a joint investment fund for reconstructing Ukraine, a deal that was seen as a potential step toward bringing an end to the war and tying the two countries' economies together for years to come.

But as Zelenskyy and his team departed the White House at Trump's request, the deal went unsigned, and Ukraine's hopes for securing US security backing seemed farther away than ever. Yet as the Ukrainian leader was set to return to Kyiv empty handed, his support at home seemed undiminished. As two drones struck Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv on Friday night, the head of the region which sits on the border with Russia, Oleh Syniehubov, praised Zelenskyy.

He said the president held strong to his insistence that no peace deal could be made without assurances for Ukraine's security against future Russian aggression. "Our leader, despite the pressure, stands firm in defending the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians. … We need only a just peace with security guarantees,” Syniehubov said.