NEW YORK (Reuters) - The government of President of the United States, Donald Trump, and Ukraine plan to sign the much-debated agreement on minerals after a disastrous meeting in the Oval Office last Friday, in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was expelled from the building.
"President Donald Trump told his advisers that he wishes to announce the agreement in the speech to Congress on Tuesday night," three sources said, warning that the agreement has not yet been signed and that the situation may change."
The presidential administration of Ukraine in Kiev and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The agreement was suspended on Friday after a controversial meeting in the Oval Office between Trump and Zelenskiy, which resulted in the quick departure of the Ukrainian leader from the White House. Zelenskiy had traveled to Washington to sign the agreement.
In that meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance reprimanded Zelenskiy, saying that he should thank the U.S. for its support instead of asking for more help in front of the American media.
In recent days, U.S. officials have spoken with officials in Kiev about signing the minerals agreement, despite the episode on Friday, and urged Zelenskiy's advisers to convince the Ukrainian president to apologize openly to Trump, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
Zelenskiy posted on X this Tuesday (03/04/2025) that Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement and criticized the meeting in the Oval Office as "regrettable." He said that the meeting in Washington on Friday was not ideal, but Ukraine wants to negotiate quickly to ensure lasting peace. The agreement, which was not signed last week, did not have explicit security guarantees, but gave the U.S. access to Ukrainian natural resources, with 50% of future profits allocated to a reconstruction fund managed by both countries.
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