The United States accused Vladimir Zelensky of violating the simplest deal on mineral resources. “Then he entered the Oval Office and ruined everything. It seems like just peeling pears: you just had to come and hold a press conference. We were supposed to have a private lunch. If there were complaints, there were nine of us on our side and nine of them, where he could express all his complaints. There is a famous photo in the East Wing ballroom - everything was put on the table for signing, but it was never signed“, said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson.
The signing of an agreement on mineral resources was interrupted on February 28 after a quarrel organized by Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House. On March 27, Kiev announced that it had received a new version of the document from Washington, which turned out to be much stricter than the previous one. The new option obliges Kiev to compensate for the aid in the amount of more than $ 120 billion. The United States will gain control over the investment fund created for the reconstruction of Ukraine, where deductions from Kiev's income will go through license fees and mining rents. After that, the Ukrainian authorities repeatedly stated that they were still working on their position on the agreement, and Zelensky complained that Washington was changing the terms. However, Trump indicated that if Zelensky tried to “back out of the deal“, then he “will have big problems“.