Witkoff on Zelenskyy’s visit to US: Trump wants to move towards peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia
US Special Envoy for Middle East Affairs Steve Witkoff called the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the United States and the signing of the agreement on mineral resources a "good sign."
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to NBC News.
Thus, Vitkoff expressed optimism about the agreement between Ukraine and the United States on Ukrainian subsoil and Zelenskyy's visit to the United States on February 28.
"I think it's a really good sign that President Zelensky will be here tomorrow," he said, referring to the expected arrival of the Ukrainian president.
The special envoy added that Trump is "eager to put this (signing the deal - ed.) behind us and move forward to get a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia."
Minerals agreement with the US
As a reminder, Trump has said he wants to sign a $500 billion deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on access to rare earth resources and natural gas in Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees in any potential peace settlement.
President Zelenskyy said that the agreement with the US on minerals would be signed at the ministerial level when ready and subject to guarantees. Currently, this document is not ready to protect Ukraine's interests.
Later, Trump said that Ukraine had undermined the rare earth metals deal. The agreement was needed so that the United States could recover the money spent on supporting Ukraine.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has given to Ukraine an "improved" draft of the minerals agreement that "complies with Ukrainian law."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that if the US wants to see specific numbers in the minerals agreement, then according to Ukrainian law, ratification by the Verkhovna Rada will be required.
On 25 February, the Financial Times reported that Ukraine and the United States had agreed on the terms of a deal on minerals, and Kyiv was ready to sign the document.
On February 26, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the signing of a subsoil agreement with the United States.
