NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he appreciated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s willingness to sign a minerals deal with the United States and come to the negotiating table under his leadership to bring a lasting peace closer in Kyiv’s war with Russia.
Trump said in an address to the US Congress that Zelensky made the declaration in a letter to him earlier in the day.
Zelensky posted on X earlier that Ukraine was ready to sign the deal and talk peace and called a contentious Oval Office meeting last week after which it was put on hold “regrettable.”
The Trump administration and Ukraine plan to sign the minerals deal, four people familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier on Tuesday. Trump had told his advisers that he wanted to announce an agreement in his address to Congress, three of the sources said, cautioning that the deal had yet to be signed and the situation could change.
Trump’s remarks suggested that progress had been made.
“Earlier today, I received an important letter from President Zelensky of Ukraine. The letter reads, ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Trump said.
Trump said Zelensky had said he stood ready to work “under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts” and that he valued how much America had done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence.
“Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you,” Trump quoted Zelensky as saying.
“I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said, adding that “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace.
Trump has said the agreement will help secure a peace deal by giving the United States a financial stake in Ukraine’s future. He views it as America’s way of earning back some of the tens of billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in financial and military aid since Russia invaded three years ago.
Zelensky was dismissed from the White House after being berated by Trump and his vice president, who said he should thank the US for its support rather than asking for additional aid for Ukraine’s war against Russian in front of the media.
“You’re gambling with World War Three,” Trump said on Friday.
US officials urged apology
US officials have in recent days spoken to officials in Kyiv about signing the minerals deal despite Friday’s blow-up, and urged Zelensky’s advisers to convince the Ukrainian president to apologize openly to Trump, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelensky said in his post on X. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”
It was unclear if the deal has changed. The version that was to be signed last week included no explicit security guarantees for Ukraine but gave the US access to revenues from Ukraine’s natural resources. It also envisaged the Ukrainian government contributing 50 percent of future monetization of any state-owned natural resources to a US-Ukraine managed reconstruction investment fund.
On Monday, Trump signaled that his administration remained open to signing the deal, telling reporters in a gaggle that Ukraine “should be more appreciative.”
“This country has stuck with them through thick and thin,” Trump said. “We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us.”
France, Britain and possibly other European countries have offered to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire but would want support from the US or a “backstop.” Moscow has rejected proposals for peacekeeping troops.
Daniel Fried, a former senior White House official and ambassador to Poland, said the path to getting the minerals deal done has been messy, but it would deliver two solid wins for Trump — Zelensky’s statement of regret and the agreement of Britain and France to provide security and boots on the ground.
“Trump can and should take the win. He’d be able to say that he ... got the Europeans to stand up in front of an issue of European security, which they’ve never done before,” said Fried, now a fellow at the Atlantic Council.
