Gov. Josh Shapiro is weighing in on an Oval Office dispute between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy that is echoing across the globe — and has roots in Scranton, Pa.
“The Oval Office should be a place where we advance American values — not where we retreat from them,” said Shapiro in a statement issued just hours after a stunning blow-up between Trump, Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance on Friday.
Shapiro accused Trump and Vance of attacking Zelenskyy during an argument over Trump’s Ukraine policy, and he said their treatment of the Ukrainian president “served to undermine the safety and security of America and our national security interests.”
The argument, which played out with press cameras rolling, came at a meeting where Zelenskyy had been expected to sign a deal granting the United States access to Ukrainian mineral deposits.
But Vance and Trump criticized Zelenskyy for not showing more gratitude to the United States, as Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine needed security guarantees to end the war because Russian leader Vladimir Putin could not be trusted.
The exchange resulted in Zelenskyy’s early departure from the White House — without signing the mineral-rights deal — and Trump issuing a statement that asserted Zelenskyy “is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. … He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for peace.”
As Shapiro’s statement pointedly noted, Pennsylvania’s population includes some 150,000 people of Ukrainian descent — some of whom, the statement observed, came to “find safety after fleeing Vladimir Putin’s aggression.”
Some of those Ukrainian-Americans, who have seen their nation at war since Russia invaded it three years ago, hoped Trump might bring the conflict to an end. But those hopes have dimmed for some in the early days of his second term.
Part of the Oval Office dispute has its origins in a visit Zelenskyy made — in Shapiro’s company — to Pennsylvania during the 2024 fall election campaign.
Prior to addressing the United Nations in October, Zelenskyy stopped at a facility that made artillery shells used in his country. There, he reportedly expressed his gratitude to workers, telling them, “I wanted very much to come here and to thank you. Four hundred people have saved millions of Ukrainians.”
Republicans criticized the visit, denouncing it as an effort to help Democrats at the polls. Vance, who insisted that Zelenskyy should show more gratitude, also faulted him for having done so the year before.
“You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October,” he said.
“No,” Zelensky responded.
“Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country,” Vance demanded.
Zelenskyy’s Scranton visit was made in the presence of Shapiro as well as then-U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who was running for re-election, and who lost to Dave McCormick the following month.
Shapiro did not allude to that event in his statement Friday, but he said that “friends and adversaries elsewhere are taking notice” of Trump and Vance’s behavior.
Peace, he said, would require an “honest reckoning of who started the war and who the aggressor is, and to that question, there is only one answer: Russia.
“Strong leaders stand with their allies and they stand on their principles,” Shapiro’s statement continued. “I believe we must continue to advocate for the values of freedom and liberty, not cower to dangerous dictators like Vladimir Putin."
