The signing of an economic agreement between Ukraine and the United States cannot happen without the agreement of a peace treaty.
This was stated in an interview with CBS News by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, responding to a question about whether President Donald Trump had instructed him to abandon the mineral agreement following a conflict with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky:
"It is impossible to have an economic agreement without a peace agreement. A fundamental condition for an economic agreement is the willingness of the Ukrainian leadership to conclude a peace treaty."
When the journalist asked whether this agreement should only be a step towards a negotiation process to end the war, Bessent replied that it should have been that way, but Zelensky "disrupted the sequence" and "attempted to renegotiate the agreement in front of the whole world" even before a private lunch.
According to the American minister, this is not about a mineral agreement, but rather an "overall economic agreement." "And I think we need to see if President Zelensky wants to continue. What is the point of an economic agreement that becomes contentious if he wants the fighting to continue? President Trump wants a peace agreement," he added.
When asked what President Zelensky is wrong about if he does not agree to a ceasefire or economic agreements without security guarantees, especially when Washington has chosen the risky "Istanbul agreements" as a benchmark for a peace treaty for Ukraine, Bessent did not respond:
"I think the plan is for the European Union to provide that security, not NATO, but the EU. And again, the tragedy of Friday. I don’t know what President Zelensky was thinking. On Monday we had the President of France, a wonderful meeting. Then we had Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A fantastic meeting. They were all on board for the peace agreement. All President Zelensky had to do was come and sign this economic agreement."
Scandal in the White House
As reported by UNIAN, on February 28, a public dispute occurred in Washington between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump. This led to an early end to the meeting and the cancellation of the planned signing of the mineral agreement.
During the negotiations, Trump expressed doubts about Ukraine's ability to achieve victory in the war and called for an end to the hostilities. Zelensky responded by accusing Russia of failing to fulfill previous agreements, which irritated Trump.
European leaders, except for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, expressed support for Ukraine following the incident.
Trump's National Security Advisor Michael Waltz stated that Zelensky "made a big mistake" by starting the dispute and emphasized the need for greater gratitude from Ukraine for the assistance received.