U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 19 that he aims to "resurrect" talks on the agreement for Ukraine's natural resources, CNN reported shortly after the U.S. president accused his Ukrainian counterpart of being a "dictator."
"I think I’m gonna resurrect that deal, you know, we'll see what happens, but I’m gonna resurrect it, or things are gonna not make him (President Volodymyr Zelensky) too happy. And look, it’s time for elections," Trump said, without elaborating on the consequences for Ukraine and its president if the deal is not signed.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent passed Zelensky a draft of the Ukraine-U.S. natural resources agreement during his visit to Kyiv last week. Ukraine's leader said Kyiv is not ready to sign the document as it did not include any security guarantees.
"There are no security guarantees," in the proposed agreement, Zelensky said during the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 15, adding that signing the memorandum "was not in our interest today" but did not rule out the possibility of an eventual agreement with the U.S.
Trump blamed Ukraine for treating Bessent "rather rudely" when he arrived in Kyiv to pen the memorandum.
"They told him no, and Zelensky was sleeping and unavailable to meet him," the U.S. president claimed. Photos released by the Presidential Office clearly show Zelensky meeting Bessent during the latter's visit to Kyiv. Trump has recently made a number of false and misleading statements about Zelensky and Ukraine.
"He went there to get a document signed, and when he got there, he came back empty. They wouldn’t sign the document."
Trump did not specify what the terms of the deals could be and how Ukraine could benefit from them.
The U.S. is reportedly looking to obtain an interest in 50% of Ukraine's natural resources through a joint investment fund as payback for its support for Kyiv, according to a leaked version of the deal passed along to Zelensky by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Trump said in early February that he wanted to strike a deal with Ukraine involving access to rare earth minerals in exchange for continued aid. Trump later claimed that Kyiv had "essentially agreed" to a $500 billion resource deal.
The news comes shortly after Trump accused the Ukrainian president of being "a dictator without elections," saying that "Zelensky better move fast or he won’t have a country left."
Kremlin propaganda has pushed the narrative that Zelensky is an illegitimate leader, relying on the premise that his first presidential term was originally meant to end on May 20, 2024. Trump's claim ignores the fact that Ukraine's constitution prohibits elections during martial law, which has been in effect since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.
The comments follow Trump's increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Ukraine. Only a day before dubbing Zelensky a dictator, he accused Ukraine of starting the war while praising the U.S.-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia.
"I think the Russians want to see the war end... But I think they have the cards a little bit, because they've taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards," Trump told journalists.
Liliane Bivings
