US President Donald Trump's openly harsh comments towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are not related to Washington's turn towards Russia, but rather a way to put pressure on Kiev to conclude an agreement on the mines. This is reported by Politico, citing sources in the White House.
The interlocutors of the publication called for not paying serious attention to the "fake war", which is "another example of crude tactics in negotiations."
In their opinion, if the agreement is signed, relations between Zelensky and Trump will improve.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said that Trump's objections to Zelensky were due to the rejection of the proposal on the mines.
According to Rubio, Washington believes that such an agreement will automatically guarantee Ukraine's future security, since the United States will have a "personal interest" in gaining access to its mineral resources.
Rubio noted that Washington was disappointed when Zelensky initially agreed to the agreement, but then openly rejected it: "I read Zelensky two days later, saying, 'I rejected the agreement, I told them we would never do it.' I tell you, that did not happen at that meeting. So, someone started to upset you - and we are trying to help these guys."
According to Axios, the United States has already sent Ukraine a draft of a new mineral resource agreement that takes into account "some of Zelensky's concerns." The publication's source said that several advisers to the Ukrainian president persuaded him to sign the renewed agreement in order to avoid future disagreements with Trump.
Trump's attacks on Zelensky
US President Donald Trump continues to attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he calls an "unelected dictator." According to the Associated Press, on the evening of February 19, during a speech at an investment forum in Miami, Trump "hurt" Zelensky for refusing to sign a mineral resources agreement. "They broke the deal," Trump said. Earlier, Zelensky had said that there was no mention of security guarantees, but only that the United States would own 50 percent of all of Ukraine's rare metals.
Speaking to reporters on board the presidential plane, Trump said that the Ukrainians "more or less agreed" to the agreement before the arrival of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant in Kiev in early February. According to Trump, the Ukrainians treated Bessant “very rudely”: “They basically told him ‘no’, and Zelensky was asleep and couldn’t meet with him.”
“He traveled for many hours on a train, which is a dangerous journey, and we’re talking about the Secretary of the Treasury. He went there to sign a document and came back empty-handed. They didn’t sign the document,” the US president said.
When asked about the possibility of reviving the minerals agreement, Trump said: “Yes, I think I’ll revive it, we’ll see what happens, but I’ll revive it, otherwise it wouldn’t be interesting. And now it’s election time.”
According to Reuters, the Trump administration is considering a simplified agreement with Ukraine on the use of natural resources. According to the agency’s sources, this agreement would allow for a quick signing, and the detailed terms will be discussed later. The agency's sources said that Kiev is ready to make a deal, but the conditions should not be "predatory."
Trump began criticizing Zelensky shortly after the Russian-US talks in Saudi Arabia on February 18. Trump, without providing any evidence, said that Volodymyr Zelensky's approval rating in Ukraine was 4 percent. Zelensky responded by saying that "if someone wants to replace him right now, it's impossible." In turn, the Ukrainian president called Trump a victim of Russian disinformation.
The Kremlin, commenting on the disagreements between Trump and Zelensky, said that the Ukrainian president's rating was declining and that "this is an absolutely clear trend." "The rhetoric of Zelensky and many representatives of the Kiev regime in general does not lead to anything good. Often, representatives of the Ukrainian regime, especially in recent months, say absolutely unacceptable things about the leaders of other countries," said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president. He said that for many leaders, “this is absolutely unacceptable and unacceptable.”
In recent days, Donald Trump has openly supported the efforts of France and Britain to reach an agreement to send peacekeepers to Ukraine as a guarantee of a peace agreement. Trump called the deployment of peacekeepers a “wonderful gesture.”
According to The Telegraph, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will present a plan for European countries to send 30,000 troops to Ukraine at a meeting with Trump in February (Ukraine has said it needs more than 100,000 troops). Starmer will also demand that American fighter jets and missiles be on standby in Eastern Europe in case Russia violates the terms of the ceasefire.
Earlier, The Times reported that Britain could send fighter jets and a small number of ground troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee.
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