Donald Trump’s Secretary of War has sparked a diplomatic row after he appeared to wear a pro-Russian tie during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Pete Hegseth wore a white, blue and red striped tie upon meeting with the Ukrainian president at the White House on Friday, sparking theories that he had intended to match the Russian flag.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass said the US official “drew attention” with “a tie in the colours of the Russian tricolour”.
It wrote: “Hegseth’s tie, featuring bold white, blue, and red stripes arranged in the same order as on the Russian national flag, stood out among the otherwise restrained attire of the US delegation.
“While the United States’ own flag includes the same colours, the sequence and design made the choice particularly striking.
“Trump and the other officials opted for plain, solid-coloured ties.”
Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, appeared to draw the same conclusions about Mr Hegseth’s fashion choice, as he shared a photo of his tie captioned with an emoji of the Russian flag.
US Vice-President JD Vance appeared to squash the rumours, posting to X: “Or maybe he was wearing the colours of America.”
Pete Hegseth wore the tie during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last week
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GETTY
“Maybe it is good that we have the same colours,” Mr Dmitriev replied.
Mr Hegseth accompanied his tie with an American flag pocket square in his navy blue suit jacket.
After speaking with President Zelensky for more than two hours on Friday, Mr Trump implored both Ukraine and Russia to “stop the war immediately”, even if it means Ukraine conceding territory.
“You stop at the battle line, and both sides should go home, go to their families,” the US President said.
Donald Trump implored Ukraine and Russia to ‘stop the war immediately’
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REUTERS
“Stop the killing. And that should be it. Stop right now at the battle line. I told that to President Zelensky. I told it to President Putin.”
The two leaders went behind closed doors at the White House, where they discussed a call the previous day between the Russian president and Mr Trump, who has portrayed himself as a mediator between the warring forces.
“I think President Zelenskiy wants it done, and I think President Putin wants it done. Now all they have to do is get along a little bit,” the US President said.
President Zelensky, however, noted how difficult it has been to try to secure a ceasefire, saying “we want this. Putin doesn’t want [it]”.
President Zelensky described the meeting as productive
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REUTERS
The Ukrainian leader told the US President that Ukraine has thousands of drones ready for an offensive against Russian targets, but needs American missiles.
Mr Trump later reiterated that he wants the US to hold onto its weaponry.
“We want Tomahawks also. We don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country,” he said.
After the meeting, which President Zelensky described as productive, he said he did not want to talk about long-range missiles, saying the US did not want escalation, and that he was “realistic” about his chance of getting them.
The Ukrainian President, who spoke by phone with European leaders after the meeting, said he was counting on MrTrump to pressure Putin “to stop this war”.
