A tense meeting over the US’s demands for 50% of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as repayment for aid provided during the war saw Volodymyr Zelensky turn ‘very angry’, reports say
Volodmyr Zelenksy shouted at one of Donald Trump’s top officials during a tense meeting over Ukraine’s future, it has been claimed.
The Ukrainian president met with Scott Bessent, Trump’s treasury secretary in Kyiv earlier this month to discuss the US’s demands for 50% of the nation’s rare earth minerals as ‘repayment’ for military and financial assistance provided since the Russian invasion.
Trump – who has recently turned on Zelensky and last week branded him a “dictator” – has claimed the total cost of the aid amounts to $500 billion (£395 billion), though he has not provided any evidence for this figure. Now, one person at the meeting has told the Financial Times that Zelensky turned “very angry” during the meeting.
It was alleged he shouted after Mr Bessent demanded that he sign the agreement regarding rights to the country’s natural resources while he was in the room. The Ukrainian president refused to sign, and later told reporters that he would discuss the matter further with JD Vance and US officials at the Munich security conference.
The Ukrainian government is not thought to have been consulted about the proposals prior to Scott Bessent’s arrival in Kyiv. Donald Trump referenced the meeting last week when he claimed Mr Bessent had been treated “rudely” by his Ukranian hosts.
He told reporters aboard Air Force One: “Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because essentially, they told him ‘no’. And Zelensky was sleeping and unavailable to meet him.”
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna described negotiations over the minerals agreement as “very constructive” and said “nearly all key details” had been finalised One source familiar with the negotiations said at the weekend that the draft US deal is “not the one President Zelensky would accept” and described it as an attempt to “take from a country that is a victim of war”.
On Monday, leaders from around the world, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among those to visit Ukraine to show their support on the third anniversary of the invasion.
Trudeau told a special summit that world cannot return to a “might is right” approach to international relations, comments which follow the opening of bilateral opening negotiations between the United States and Russia last week.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who last week came under fire for defending Trump’s approach to negotiations, also visited the country today to mark the anniversary, and abruptly ended an interview with Good Morning Britain after speaking to Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid.