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| - Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet with a group of Democrats right before heading into the White House Oval Office meeting about the mineral deal on February 28, 2025? No, that's not true: Social media photos show Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was present in the same room in the Hay-Adams hotel, along with Democrats Amy Klobuchar, Chris Murphy and Chris Coons. Coons and Klobuchar posted on social media that the meeting was "bipartisan." Zelenskyy's official website also mentioned Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Roger Wicker being present.
An article (archived here) published by the New York Post titled "Disaster in the Oval Office: Dems lead Zelensky, Ukraine off a cliff with pressure to reject mineral deal" caused some confusion when it reported about the meeting but only mentioned Democrats present:
Before meeting Trump, Zelensky met with anti-Trump Democrats who advised him to reject the terms of the mineral deal the president was offering, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
"Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine," Murphy's office posted on X at 11:15 a.m. Friday.
He attached a picture of Zelensky at a conference table, with Murphy seated on the opposite side.
This is that tweet (archived here):
Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/eaCePJ4UZr
-- Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 28, 2025
Sen. Chris Coons (D-De) had posted the same picture on his X account (archived here) almost 25 minutes earlier, including another photo that showed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) :
Just finished an encouraging meeting in Washington with President @ZelenskyyUa and a bipartisan group of Senators to discuss our ongoing partnership with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/x5FXdvH3B7
-- Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) February 28, 2025
The group picture with Coons, Graham, Zelenskyy and Klobuchar had been posted by Klobuchar (archived here) about 15 minutes earlier:
Really good bipartisan meeting before President Zelensky heads to the White House. We stand with Ukraine.🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/s5NJx0BcKZ
-- Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 28, 2025
Both Coons and Klobuchar described the meeting as "bipartisan" in their posts.
The official website of President Zelenskyy also published a story about the meeting (archived here) that included details about who was present:
During his visit to the United States, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Washington with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Senate. The delegation included Republican senators: President pro tempore of the Senate Chuck Grassley, Сhairman of the Armed Services Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus Roger Wicker, and Сhairman of the Senate Budget Committee Lindsey Graham. The Democratic senators included Chairwoman of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee Amy Klobuchar, Co-Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment Sheldon Whitehouse, Co-Chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Richard Blumenthal, Co-Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Brian Schatz, Co-Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee Chris Coons, as well as Chris Van Hollen, Peter Welch, and Mark Kelly.
President Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the United States' unwavering bicameral and bipartisan support throughout the three years of Russia's full-scale aggression. Ukraine is proud to have strategic partners and friends like the United States.
The very distinctive wallpaper visible in the social media photos appears to be from a room in the Hay-Adams hotel in Washington D.C., which is located on the opposite side of Lafayette Square from the White House. The same wallpaper can be seen in this Instagram post (archived here) from the hotel describing their 'Concorde Room':
A picture of the same room also appears on Google Maps (archived here), showing the same chandeliers, wallpaper and curtains visible in the photos on X.
The website of the Hay-Adams hotel has a gallery section (archived here) that features a photo of the room including the same water bottles chairs and notepads visible in the social media posts:
(Image: screenshot of The Hay-Adams hotel website made by Lead Stories on February 3, 2025 at 9:45:04 UTC)
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