Washington, D.C. – US President Donald Trump received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, with the intention of signing a comprehensive deal on natural resources. Trump greeted the Ukrainian president with a handshake, making a comment about Zelensky’s dark sweater, seemingly as an allusion.
In the Oval Office, a heated exchange took place in front of running cameras. “You’re putting the lives of millions of people at risk. You’re risking a third world war” Trump accused his guest. The visibly upset US President also accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and ungrateful, adding that “it will be hard to come to business this way.”
To Zelensky’s dismay, US Vice J.D. Vance then joined in to read the riot act to the Ukrainian state chief, also in front of the cameras.
Vance reprimanded Zelensky for coming to the “Oval Office of the United States of America and attacking the government that is trying to prevent the destruction of his country.”
Zelensky should not behave so “disrespectfully” towards Trump, Vance admonished, before drawing attention to the situation in Ukraine: “Right now, they’re going around forcing conscripts to the front, because of personnel problems. You should thank the president for trying to put an end to this conflict” Vance said, pointing to Trump.
“You’re not in a position to dictate what we’ll feel” a visibly irritated Trump told Zelensky, after the Ukrainian state chief hinted that the US would feel the “influence” if they did not further support Kiev.
Trump countered by saying that Zelensky “has no cards in his hand – we’re not playing cards!” and that “what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the US” said Trump to Zelensky at the end.
The background of the meeting is the signing of an agreement on the exploitation of Ukraine’s natural resources, including rare earths and other strategically important minerals like lithium.
The idea of such an agreement was first expressed by Zelensky in the past autumn and the US President accepted the offer at the beginning of this month. In the last weeks, there has been a certain give-and-take, with the Ukrainian state chief apparently trying to secure more favorable conditions.
It is expected that the agreement on minerals will set a general framework and confirm the intention of the two countries to establish a special joint fund, with a series of separate documents to follow, in which the details will be specified.
The economic advisor to the White House, Kevin Hassett, said to NewsNation on Thursday that the approximate value of the agreement for the American people is around 20 billion US dollars. The Ukrainian government has approved the agreement, according to an announcement by Prime Minister Denis Shmigal on Wednesday.