Media: Trump's team would like Zelenskyy to wear suit for Oval Office meeting

The White House has asked Ukrainian officials whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would wear a suit to his meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on 18 August.

Zelenskyy’s clothing had become an issue during his previous Oval Office meeting with Trump, which ended in a diplomatic fiasco.

Trump disliked Zelenskyy’s military-style attire and sarcastically remarked, "he is all dressed up today", when welcoming him into the West Wing. 

Some US officials at the time believed the matter of the suit partly contributed to the disastrous outcome of the meeting.

Axios sources said Zelenskyy would appear at the White House on Monday wearing the same black jacket he wore at the NATO summit in the Netherlands in June. "It is going to be 'suit-style' but not a full suit," one of the sources said.

At the NATO summit, Zelenskyy wore a business-style jacket for the first time since the 2022 invasion, and US officials said Trump was pleased with this.

"Zelenskyy came like a normal human being, not crazy, and was dressed like a somebody that should be at NATO. ... So they had a good conversation," a US official told Axios at the time.

One Trump adviser, partly joking, told Axios that "it would be a good sign for peace" if Zelenskyy wore a suit on Monday, but added: "We don't expect him to do it".

"It would be great if he wore a tie but we don't expect him to," another official said. 

The source added that Vice President JD Vance was more irritated by Zelenskyy’s appearance and behaviour during the last Oval Office meeting than Trump himself. 

According to the sources, Zelenskyy will not wear a tie on Monday.

Trump is known for valuing a polished appearance, which for him means wearing a suit as a world leader. However, his advisers said that his frustration with Zelenskyy last time was about more than just clothing.

US officials say the Ukrainian president has become better at appealing to Trump. 

"Give him some credit. He's not as bad as he used to be," another Trump adviser said.

Asked whether the summit would be a repeat of the last one, the adviser replied: "No, absolutely not".

"They've travelled very, very far, both of them," he said. "Zelenskyy will not show him pictures of dead children and then act like it's somehow his fault. The president has learned to just sort of like, you know, file away any irritations and go forward."

The adviser added that European leaders would also be with Zelenskyy this time, "so it will be a very different complexion than the last meeting".

Zelenskyy has not worn a suit since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Former Polish president Andrzej Duda once said he hoped that Zelenskyy would arrive at a summit in a suit, which would symbolise the end of the war in Ukraine.

In February, during a Trump-Zelenskyy meeting in the Oval Office, a reporter asked Zelenskyy why he did not wear a suit to a meeting at the highest level of the United States.

"Why don't you wear a suit? Do you own a suit?" the journalist asked.

"Do you have problems?" Zelenskyy replied.

"A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the dress code of the Oval Office," the journalist replied.

After that, Zelenskyy said he would wear a suit after the Russo-Ukrainian war ended.