Mr. Zelensky declared his readiness to sign a mineral agreement with the US.
The agreement under consideration will be signed if the parties are ready, the Ukrainian leader added. Earlier, on March 2, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the US no longer plans to sign the agreement.
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TASS reported on March 3 that President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready to sign a mineral agreement with the United States, referring to the agreement that was expected to be signed during his recent visit to the White House.
"Our policy is to continue what happened before, we have always been constructive," Mr Zelensky said. "If we have agreed to sign a mineral agreement, then we are ready to sign it."
"The agreement on the negotiating table will be signed if the parties are ready," he stressed.
On February 28, Mr. Zelensky met with former US President Donald Trump at the White House. The televised exchange between the two sides unexpectedly turned into a heated argument, when Mr. Trump criticized Mr. Zelensky for disrespecting the United States. Vice President JD Vance also said that Mr. Zelensky never truly thanked the United States for its support for Kiev. The scheduled press conference was later canceled.
President Trump later posted a statement on the Truth Social platform, criticizing Mr. Zelensky for being disrespectful and not ready for peace.
Ukraine and the United States planned to sign a mineral agreement during the visit. According to Reuters, the decision to cancel the signing was made by the US President. On March 2, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the US no longer plans to sign the agreement.
In another development, on March 3, TASS reported that France and Britain are proposing a month-long ceasefire in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with the newspaperThe FigaroThe proposal would apply to attacks on airspace, sea and energy infrastructure.
According to Mr. Macron, this proposal would not affect the fighting on the ground, because the front line is equivalent to the distance from Paris to Budapest, making it extremely difficult to monitor compliance. The French president also expressed hope that contact between Mr. Donald Trump and Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky would be resumed.