Zelensky: Ukraine 'Ready' to Sign Minerals Deal With US

Despite contentious meeting between Ukrainian president and Trump, Vance
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2025 1:30 AM CST
Zelensky: Ukraine 'Ready' to Sign Minerals Deal With US
Britain's King Charles III and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, shake hands during their meeting at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, Sunday, March 2, 2025.   (Joe Giddens/Pool via AP)

Despite his contentious meeting with US President Trump and Vice President Vance, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says he remains "ready to sign" a minerals deal with the US. The deal wasn't finalized at the White House as planned due to the abrupt turn of events the Oval Office meeting took, but Zelensky, who had a much more successful meeting with European leaders over the weekend, told reporters from outlets including the Guardian and the BBC that he's still open to continuing "constructive dialogue." "I just want the Ukrainian position to be heard," he adds. "We want our partners to remember who the aggressor is in this war."

As for the US, however, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS News Sunday that there's no economic deal currently on the table. "All President Zelensky had to do was come in and sign this economic agreement, and again show no daylight—no daylight—between Ukrainian people and the American people, and he chose to blow that up," Bessent said on Face the Nation. "President Trump wants a peace deal," Bessent said, claiming that it's "impossible to have an economic deal without a peace deal" and that an economic deal will be "rendered moot if [Zelensky] wants the fighting to continue." (More Volodymyr Zelensky stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X