U.S. President Donald Trump heavily praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday while commenting on Kyiv’s recent strikes inside Russia. But body language experts suggest the sentiment may not be mutual.
“[Zelenskyy] has done an amazing job,” Trump told reporters. “He’s been very effective, and he’s had the best equipment because he’s had our equipment.” Trump also announced the U.S. will allow Ukraine to coproduce its own Patriot missiles, which can be used to take down Russian missiles and drones before they strike.
Trump’s Comments and Zelenskyy’s Reaction
The exchanges took place during Trump’s remarks in Ankara, Turkey, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. At one point, Trump was asked whether he would help “close the skies in case Russia attacks again.”
“If it’s necessary, yeah,” he said. “I don’t want to upset [Zelenskyy], but everything I’ve done with President Putin has been OK; it’s been good.”
In a circulated clip, Zelenskyy can be seen looking at Trump and slightly raising his eyebrows in response. “Clearly, Zelenskyy doesn’t agree with Trump,” Traci Brown, a body language expert and behavior analyst, told HuffPost. Brown points to Zelenskyy’s eyebrow raise and his turned-away gaze — a movement called “askance” — as a sign of suspicion or disapproval.
“He’s showing that this statement is suspect at best,” Brown said.
Body Language Analysis: Disbelief and Composure
Turning away from Trump to face the reporters and cameras wasn’t incidental, Patti Wood, a body language and nonverbal communication expert, told HuffPost. “It’s more deliberate [that he turns] away from Trump,” Wood said. “And then he laughs.”
The laugh reads as genuine disbelief at what Trump is saying, rather than politeness, Wood argues. She compared it to a “stifled” laugh that some aides do when they play along without meaning it. Those laughs are “not fully expressed in the sound, nor the face,” she said, and are “more forward and stifled and stiff, almost brittle.” But Zelenskyy’s laugh has “sort of a flow to it, like a wave,” she said. “To laugh at something that wasn’t really funny that Trump is saying to you … that’s a very strong response,” she said.
At one point, Trump points directly at Zelenskyy. Wood described the gesture as Trump’s hands almost becoming a “symbolic weapon,” as if to warn Zelenskyy not to push back. In response, Zelenskyy, holding his hands together in his lap, stretches his fingers rather than clenching them into a fist.
“He’s keeping himself from hitting a trap,” Wood said. “It’s much more subtle than putting his hands into a fist.”
Trump’s Verbal Slip and Recovery
Earlier in the conversation, Trump appeared to have mistakenly referred to Zelenskyy as “President Putin” by asking reporters, “Do you have a question for President Putin?” while opening his arm out to Zelenskyy. The president then added, “Not Zelenskyy. What would you like to ask him, because I’m going to ask him that question.”
“You see a sudden change in his confidence,” Wood said, referring to Trump. “His body language kind of collapses down; he pauses more.” Rather than being embarrassed, Wood said, it looks as though Trump is reading the room to see if the mistake landed. “Did he notice what I just did?” Wood said Trump is thinking about Zelenskyy. “Now I’m recovering.”
Pattern of Tension Since February 2025
Both body language analysts only reviewed brief clips from the discussion. But Wood said there was an overall pattern seen throughout — that Trump seemed to have been probing for a reaction and Zelenskyy was staying composed. Wood compared it to the two leaders’ previous public interactions since their February 2025 Oval Office meeting, when Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War III” and called the Ukrainian president “disrespectful,” HuffPost reported.
“[Zelenskyy] is not responding; he’s not defeated,” Wood said. “He shows his breaks from containment, but stays composed.”
