US treasury secretary: Deal on Ukrainian minerals not under discussion
Pravda Ukraine
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated that an agreement on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals is not currently on the agenda.
Source: Bessent in an interview with Face the Nation on CBS
Quote: “I don’t know what President Zelenskyy was thinking. We had President of France Emmanuel Macron in on Monday, great meeting. Then – we had [UK] Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday. Fantastic meeting. They were all on board the arc of the peace agreement.”
Details: Bessent said that Zelenskyy was supposed to sign an economic agreement that could have deepened cooperation between the two countries, but this did not happen.
Quote: “All President Zelenskyy 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.”
Details: When asked whether negotiations on the deal were ongoing, Bessent replied, “Not at present”.
Background:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the White House ahead of schedule on Friday after a spat with Donald Trump and JD Vance.
- In response, Trump claimed that the Ukrainian president had “disrespected” the United States and that Zelenskyy was “not ready for peace”.
- US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said it was unclear whether Zelenskyy truly wants to stop the fighting as he came in not dressed in a way to resolve such matters.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Washington is ready to resume engagement as soon as Ukraine is ready for peace.
- Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals agreement with the United States.
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