Fact Check

Zelenskyy didn't exactly say 'raising volume of your voice' but not 'your logic' in Trump meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president during an Oval Office meeting.

by Nur Ibrahim, Published March 6, 2025


Three white men sit in a room. The one to the left is wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and pants, while the other two men are wearing dark blue suits.

Image courtesy of Getty Images


Claim:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance during their contentious February 2025 Oval Office meeting, “You're raising the volume of your voice, but not the logic of your argument."
Rating:
False

About this rating

Context

Zelenskyy said, "You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war [between Ukraine and Russia], you can ..." before Trump cut him off. We do not know what Zelenskyy was planning to say in the rest of his sentence before he was interrupted.


After Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was publicly berated by U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in a February 2025 Oval Office meeting, snippets of their interaction were shared widely on social media.

A number of social media posts claimed witnesses overheard Zelenskyy say to the U.S. leaders: "You're raising the volume of your voice, but not the logic of your argument."

We looked closely at the footage as well as transcripts of their meeting, which was televised. At no point did Zelenskyy make the above statement. He did, however, begin saying, "You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war [between Ukraine and Russia], you can..." before Trump interrupted him. We do not know what Zelenskyy was planning to say before the interruption. As such, we rate this claim about the purported quote as false.

We compared transcripts from PBS, The Associated Press, and The New York Times and found no examples of Zelenskyy saying the above phrase in any recording online. However, Zelenskyy did make an incomplete remark that sounded like the above phrase.

A video of the complete meeting can be seen here. At the 44:32 mark, Vance began to sternly criticize Zelenskyy by asking him to offer "words of appreciation" to the U.S., to which Zelenskyy said, "You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can [...]." Trump then interrupted him.

We have reproduced a transcript of the moment below:

VANCE: Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country.

ZELENSKYY: Please. You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can…

TRUMP: He's not speaking loudly. He's not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.

ZELENSKYY: Can I answer —

TRUMP: No, no. You've done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.

ZELENSKYY: I know. I know.

While Zelenskyy did note the volume with which Vance talked to him, he did not complete the thought. Thus, the claim that he made an argument about logic is not true.

Soon after the meeting, Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine even as Zelenskyy said he would come to the negotiating table in his country's war with Russia. During his address to Congress on March 4, 2025, Trump said, "Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians." 


By Nur Ibrahim

Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing.

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