Dr John Osae-Kwapong, a Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has said he was surprised that the recent exchange between the United States President, Donald Trump and Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky took place in public.

Speaking on The AM Show on JoyNews, he noted that discussions on sensitive matters such as war and international support are usually held behind closed doors before being presented to the public.

“I was quite surprised at the turn of events because, normally, with these diplomatic engagements especially over difficult issues like war, peace, and how you support a country a lot of the difficult parts of the conversation should have been had privately,” he said.

He explained that typically, once major disagreements are resolved in private, they then engage the media to present a unified stance. However, in this case, the exchange played out in full public view, which he found unusual.

Over the weekend, a significant and contentious meeting took place between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. The encounter began cordially but quickly escalated into a heated exchange, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance berating Zelensky.

The tension arose when a reporter questioned Trump about his alignment with Putin, prompting a defensive response from Trump and an interjection by Vice President Vance. Zelensky attempted to discuss the history of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, but his remarks were met with criticism from both Trump and Vance. The situation deteriorated further, with Trump suggesting that Ukraine should be more grateful for U.S. support and warning Zelensky about the potential consequences of his actions.