France's prime minister tears into Trump's attack on Zelenskyy as a staggering show of 'brutality'

PARIS (AP) — France's prime minister tore Monday into U.S. President Donald Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling it a staggering show of “brutality” that aimed to humiliate Ukraine’s leader.

The extraordinarily frank criticism from Prime Minister François Bayrou, speaking in a parliamentary debate on Ukraine, diverged from the more nuanced tone that French President Emmanuel Macron has adopted in the wake of the clash at the White House on Friday and dropped the diplomatic niceties that customarily mark French-US relations.

“On Friday night, in the Oval Office of the White House, a staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world, marked by brutality, a desire to humiliate, with the goal of making Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fold through threats,” Bayrou said.

"President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation," Bayrou continued.

Lawmakers got to their feet in the National Assembly chamber to applaud.