US President Donald Trump is not interested in revisiting or reviving the Ukraine minerals deal at the moment, Reuters reported, citing a senior White House official.
Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation began "begging" to sign the deal immediately after being told to leave the White House, the official told the agency. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed earlier that the minerals agreement between the US and Ukraine had not been signed.
Earlier on Friday, Vladimir Zelensky met with Trump at the White House. Their televised exchange suddenly unraveled into a shouting match, with Trump scolding Zelensky for being disrespectful to the US. A news conference scheduled to follow the meeting was canceled, and the Ukrainian delegation left the White House earlier than planned. Bilateral talks and the scheduled signing of the deal on Ukrainian mineral resources were thwarted.
On February 25, Trump said that Zelensky could come to Washington on February 28 to sign the minerals deal. The US leader indicated in early February that the United States sought access to Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals. On February 12, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent delivered the agreement on natural resources to Zelensky. Despite Zelensky expressing willingness to sign the deal, he failed to do so during his meeting with Bessent, nor later when he met with US Vice President JD Vance in Munich. Zelensky said that the draft presented to him lacked security guarantees. However, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declared on February 21 that Zelensky would sign the agreement with the US soon. Subsequently, sources within Zelensky’s office informed Ukrainian media that the document still required finalization, and Zelensky himself announced at a press conference on February 23 that he did not want to sign the agreement with the US because, in his view, future generations of Ukrainians would bear the financial burden.
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