White House rips Zelenskyy’s ‘short-sighted’ refusal to sign US minerals deal

A senior White House official allegedly criticized the decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to sign a proposed agreement to allow the United States to access the rare minerals of the country in Ukraine.

“President Zelenskyy is a short -sighted in connection with the excellent occasion that Trump’s administration has provided to Ukraine, “said the spokesman for the White House National Security Council Brian Hughes for Associated Press.

Hughes said the mineral agreement would allow US taxpayers to “compensate” some of the billions of American assistance sent to Kiyiv during the Administration of Biden, growing the Ukrainian economy. The White House believes that “binding economic connections with the United States will be the best guarantee against future aggression and an integral part of permanent peace,” said a national security spokesman, adding: “Now they recognize it, the Russians recognize this by Ukrainians.”

Hughes did not explicitly confirmed the proposal, for which AP reported that the key part of the conversation was green US Vice President JD Vance At the sidelines of the Safety Conference in Munich on Friday.

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One current and one former Ukrainian official introduced to the conversations AP -in -u that the offer does not include any special security guarantees in exchange for access to rare land minerals.

The proposal focused on the fact that the US could use Kiev’s rare minerals of the country “as a fee” for the support that Ukraine had already given to the Administration of Biden and as a payment for future assistance, current and former high Ukrainian officials said, saying anonymously on AP. Zelenskyy said he had sent his ministers not to sign out a proposed agreement because the document was too focused on US interests.

“I have not allowed the ministers to sign a relevant agreement, because in my opinion he is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zelenskyy said in AP -U on Saturday in Munich.

Ukraine has huge reserves of critical minerals used in the airline, defensive and nuclear industry. Trump’s administration indicated that he was interested in access to them to reduce China addiction.

Zelenskyy allegedly said he considered “very important connections between some security guarantees and some kind of investment” to distract Another Russian invasion.

The document was allegedly given to Ukrainian officials on Wednesday by US Minister of the Scott Bessent Treasury to visit Kiyiva.

“It’s a colonial agreement and Zelenskyy can’t sign it,” a former British senior official told AP.

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz On Sunday, he rejected the idea that European allies do not advise the negotiations on the end of the war in Ukraine, because Trump’s administration is allegedly starting to talk to Russian colleagues in Saudi Arabia this week. In turn, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would put an emergency meeting between the major European forces in Paris on Monday to discuss the conflict of Russia-Ukraine.

Walz said “Fox News Sunday” that Vance, Beesent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in conversations with Zelenskyy’s importance “entry into partnership with the United States” and “Ko-Utoda with President Trump, with the US people, is going forward with the US people. ”

“The American people deserve to be compensated, they deserve to have some kind of refund for the billions they invested in this war,” Waltz said. “I can’t remember anything that the American people would do more comfortable with future investments than we could be in partnership and to make the US people complete. And I will highlight in that European help It’s actually in the form of a loan. That was returned. This was repaid with interest on Russian property. So, President Trump reconsiders the whole dynamics here. It’s embarrassing, but I think Zelenskyy would be very wise to conclude this agreement with the United States. There is no better way to secure them forward, and the question is further asked if Putin will come to the table. Now he did so under the leadership of President Trump, and we will continue these conversations in the coming weeks in the direction of President Trump. “

In conversations with their Ukrainian colleagues in Munich, US officials were commercially in mind and mostly concentrated on the specifics of mineral research and how to establish a possible partnership for it with Ukraine, said a senior official. The potential value of the deposit in Ukraine has not yet been discussed, with many unexplored or near the front line. The US proposal obviously did not take into account that deposits would be provided if the war continued.

Secretary of Treasury Bessent offers Zelenskyy’s Economic Investment Agreement

Zelenskyy and Vance did not talk about the details of the American document during their meeting on Friday at a conference in Munich, said a senior official.

That meeting was “very good” and “essential”, and Vance made it known that his main goal was to achieve lasting, lasting peace, said a senior official. Zelenskyy told Vance that Real Peace demands that Ukraine be in a “strong position” when starting negotiations, emphasizing that US negotiators should come to Ukraine and that US, Ukraine and Europe must be at the negotiating table for conversations with Russia.

General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, all Europeans threw out of any conversations in Ukraine-Rusia, despite Zelenskyy’s request.

“You can have Ukraine, Russians and obviously Americans on the talk table,” Kellogg said at an event hosted by a Ukrainian tycoon at a conference in Munich. Pressed if it means that Europeans will not be involved, he said, “I am a school of realism. I don’t think that will happen.”

Ukraine is now preparing a “counterprotage” that will be delivered to the United States -in “the near future,” the clerk said.

“I think it’s important that the vice president realizes me that if we want to sign something, we have to understand that it will succeed,” Zelenskyy told AP.

That is, he said, “he will bring money and security.”

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Associated Press contributed to this report.