By Erin Banco, Gram Slattery and Andrea Shalal
Donald Trump (right) andVolodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, 28 February, 2025. Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB
US President Donald Trump's administration and Ukraine plan to sign the much-debated minerals deal following a disastrous Oval Office in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was dismissed from the building, four people familiar with the situation said.
President Donald Trump has told his advisers that he wants to announce the agreement in his address to Congress Wednesday (NZT), 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 Zelensky that resulted in the Ukrainian leader's swift departure from the White House. Zelensky had travelled to Washington to sign the deal.
In that meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky, 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 Zelensky's advisers to convince the Ukrainian president to apologize openly to Trump, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
On Tuesday, Zelensky posted on X that Ukraine was ready to sign the deal and calling 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," Zelensky said in his post. "Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer."
It was unclear if the deal has changed. The deal that was to be signed last week included no explicit security guarantees for Ukraine but gave the US access to revenues from Ukraine's natural resources. It also envisaged the Ukrainian government contributing 50 percent of future monetization of any state-owned natural resources to a US-Ukraine managed reconstruction investment fund.
On Monday, Trump signalled that his administration remained open to signing the deal, telling reporters in a gaggle that Ukraine "should be more appreciative."
"This country has stuck with them through thick and thin," Trump said. "We've given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us."
- Reuters
