NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump’s administration and Ukraine plan to sign a minerals deal that fell through after a disastrous Oval Office meeting Friday (Feb 28) in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was dismissed from the building, four people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has told his advisers that he wants to announce the agreement in his address to Congress on Tuesday evening, three of the sources said, cautioning that the deal had yet to be signed and the situation could change.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ukraine’s presidential administration in Kyiv and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal was put on hold on Friday after a contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that resulted in the Ukrainian leader’s swift departure from the White House. Zelenskyy had traveled to Washington to sign the deal.
In that meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy, telling him he should thank the US for its support rather than asking for additional aid in front of the US media.
“You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump said.
US officials have in recent days spoken to officials in Kyiv about signing the minerals deal despite Friday’s blow-up, and urged Zelenskyy’s advisers to convince the Ukrainian president to apologise openly to Trump, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy posted on X that Ukraine was ready to sign the deal and called the Oval Office meeting “regrettable”.
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelenskyy said in his post. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”
