Zelensky did not sign an agreement on rare earth metals – CNN
13 February 2025 15:36
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not signed the agreement on rare earth metals brought to him by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to CNN.
“Zelenskiy appeared on stage in a smaller form with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday in Kyiv. He had hoped to meet personally with US President Donald Trump to discuss a broad vision of peace… Instead, he was presented with what Zelenskiy called “serious people” and basically a financial agreement handed down by Bessant… which he did not sign,”
– cNN wrote.
According to Suspilne, citing sources in the President’s Office, Ukraine took time to analyze the proposal brought by Bessent and is going to give an answer during Zelensky’s meeting with US Vice President Vance at the Munich Security Conference.
“We are preparing to do everything as efficiently as possible to give as much benefit to Ukraine and America as possible and make it a success. President Trump himself did not ask to sign this agreement, the discussion was with the US Treasury Secretary. President Trump took everything in the conversation positively,”
– the source said.
President Zelenskyy also said that the draft agreement would be actively studied for several days.
“We will do everything to study all the details of the document, we will do everything to be in time for the Munich Security Conference, because we do not want to waste time. I will do everything to ensure that the team of government officials works for the next 2 days and we have the opportunity to fix some agreements in Munich,”
– Zelensky was quoted as saying by Suspilne.
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Trump’s position on Ukraine
During the election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. This deadline has already passed.
Also during the election, the media spread the so-called “Trump Plan”. The plan was that the United States would use its influence to stop the war, taking into account the status quo. To do this, Trump would force Putin and Zelenskyy to sit down at the negotiating table. If Putin does not agree to negotiate, the United States will give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to win on the battlefield. If Zelenskyy refuses to negotiate, the United States will completely stop helping Ukraine.
This plan, in its various variations, included a provision that Russia would retain the territories it temporarily occupied and that Ukraine would not join NATO.
However, later Trump seemed to “forget” about this plan. In particular, he voiced scenarios in which he would force Russia to capitulate due to the decline in world oil prices.
After Trump was elected President of the United States, one of his advisors, Brian Lanza, said that Ukraine should forget about Crimea. Trump’s entourage, however, was quick to deny this statement and said that Lanza could not speak on his behalf.
Currently, the US Special Representative for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is talking about 100 days within which he wants to reach some kind of agreement. Of these, 24 days have already passed. During this time, the US administration has established contact with the Kremlin, an American envoy has traveled to Moscow, and Trump has spoken to Putin on the phone and allegedly agreed to meet in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, in exchange for military support, US President Donald Trump demanded $500 billion worth of rare earth metals from Ukraine. He said that the US should have access to Ukraine’s natural resources, regardless of whether Kyiv manages to reach a peace agreement with Russia. Moreover, Trump has already said that Ukraine is ready to accept such an agreement.
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