Key points
- Trump berated Zelensky in Oval Office clash
- Deal couldn’t be signed during last week’s meeting
- We want to end the conflict: Zelensky
ISLAMABAD: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the minerals deal between the US and Ukraine remains “ready” to sign despite the public showdown between him and the Trump administration last week.
He was asked about the future of the deal, which would grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare mineral reserves, during a late-night huddle with British media after a landmark summit in London.
“It is our policy to continue what happened in the past, we’re constructive,” he said, adding, “if we agreed to sign the minerals deal, we’re ready to sign it.”
“The agreement that’s on the table will be signed if the parties are ready,” BBC quoted him as saying.
Deal falls through
The deal, which was supposed to be a step towards helping to end the conflict in Ukraine, fell through on Friday after a televised Oval Office clash with US President Donald Trump.
Zelensky had travelled to Washington for a full White House visit on Friday to sign a US-Ukrainian deal for the joint exploitation of Ukraine’s vast mineral resources as part of a post-war recovery in a US-brokered peace deal.
But in their Oval Office meeting, Trump berated Zelensky, telling him to be more “thankful” for US support in the three-year war and that without US assistance, Ukraine would have been conquered by Russia.
“You’re either going to make a deal, or we’re out,” Trump added. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out, and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
The US leader had previously said the proposed minerals deal would be “very fair”.
AFP reported the proposal was to give Washington financial benefits for helping Ukraine in a truce, even if Trump has repeatedly refused to commit any US military force as a backup to European troops who might act as peacekeepers.
Allies rallied around Zelensky
After the heated exchange, Zelensky drove off in his motorcade shortly after having been asked to leave, without holding a planned joint press conference. The resources deal was left unsigned, the White House said.
Ukraine’s allies rallied around Zelensky on Sunday at a summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said many European leaders had pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce.
French President Emmanuel Macron, flying back from the London summit, said in a newspaper interview that France and Britain wanted to propose a partial one-month truce with Russia, AFP reported.
