White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the Trump administration is involved in “talks” to negotiate a mineral rights deal with Ukraine.
The critical minerals deal, which was expected to be signed when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington last week, fell apart after an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump devolved into a heated argument. In his joint address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said he received a letter from Zelenskyy saying he was prepared to return to the negotiating table.
“The president is committed to a peace deal. He wants to see this war end. And I think that President Zelenskyy’s message … is a positive sign in the right direction,” Leavitt said.
She added that Mike Waltz, the U.S.'s national security adviser, was updating Trump on where the deal stands.
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“I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”
Trump even read a portion of the letter in front of Congress.
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelenskyy wrote Tuesday on X. “It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
Newfound enthusiasm from the Trump administration toward negotiations is a major shift, given that the goodwill between the U.S. and Ukraine appeared to crumble since last week. After the Oval Office meeting, the U.S. reportedly paused military aid to Ukraine until Zelenskyy did more to negotiate with Russia. The change even caught U.S. senators by surprise.
And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the deal was “not at present” being considered.
Zelenskyy said this week he is ready to sign the minerals deal “in any time and in any convenient format.”
The minerals deal could in part pay back the U.S. for aid it has sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded it three years ago. The Trump administration has made the case that the deal would help ensure Ukraine’s safety, while Zelenskyy has sought assurances that the U.S. will help protect his country moving forward.
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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