Ukrainian-American Relations in Crisis After Mineral Deal Left Unsigned

President Donald Trump, right, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov)

A long-anticipated meeting between the United States and Ukraine to finalize a rare mineral deal went awry after it ended with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Last Friday, Zelensky was supposed to sign an agreement with Trump that would have improved their respective countries’ relationship after a week of hostilities between Washington and Kyiv.

The proposed agreement involved setting up a “U.S.-controlled fund that would receive revenue from Ukraine’s natural resources.” This amount, estimated to be $500 billion in a draft received by the New York Times, is meant to repay the aid provided to Ukraine under the Biden administration. However, reports by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (a German think tank) estimate that in reality, Washington has only sent $183 billion in aid. 

In exchange, Zelensky urged for security guarantees from the United States, saying “between the first step and second step, we need to understand where we stand with the United States.” 

Yet, this concern from the Ukrainian president was only vaguely referenced in the agreement. American national security advisor Mike Waltz, told Fox News last week that a US financial investment on Ukrainian soil would be “the best security guarantee they could ever hope for, much more than another pallet of ammunition.” 

However, a growing and unanswered concern from Ukrainians is that some of the land containing these rare minerals is already under Russian occupation, with more deposits seen as key objectives by the Russian military. In order for the US to have access to these reserves, Ukraine must first “regain control over those territories, demine and rebuild the infrastructure,” according to Nataliya Katser-Buchkovks, the co-founder of the Ukrainian Sustainable Investment Fund. 

Additionally, Ukrainian security concerns arise in the context of friendlier relations between the United States and Russia. In February, US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war. Ukraine was notably absent from any of the discussions. 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was ready to work with American companies to mine mineral deposits in both Russia and parts of occupied Ukraine. When asked if Putin could be reliable in an agreement to end the war, Trump said he believed that Putin “wants to make a deal.” 

The meeting last Friday in the Oval Office that was supposed to finalize the deal between the US and Ukraine ended in a fiery exchange between the two countries, leaving to more questions and concerns about the relationship between these long standing allies. 

What started out as a relatively cordial meeting between the two leaders soon soured after reporters in the room began asking pressing questions that highlighted the division of opinion between the two, with Zelensky often cut off or unable to answer. Important questions regarding the United States’s allegiance to Ukraine were sidelined or avoided while other reporters seemed to simply heckle Zelensky, with a reporter asking the president directly if he owned a suit and why he refused to wear one. Zelensky has not worn a suit since the beginning of the war in order to show solidarity to the Ukrainian soldiers fighting. 

The meeting continued to be unproductive, as Trump declared himself to be neutral between the two, affirming that he was “for peace.” At the same time, he expressed sympathy for Putin, saying he “has been through a lot with me [Trump]” in withstanding the “Russian hoax,” a reference to an investigation on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

An alarmed Zelensky urged the American president to consider the possibility of Putin breaking a peace agreement between the two countries as he has done so in the past, citing the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea. 

Yet, in a startling end to an already tense meeting, Vance and Trump embarked on a verbal tirade against the Ukrainian president, accusing him of “not being thankful” and “disrespecting the United States.” 

Such a scene was “simply unimaginable in the White House,” according to a journalist present at the meeting. Amidst the fiery exchange, Trump warned Zelensky that he was “gambling with World War III.” Speaking directly to the president, Mr. Trump added “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

The subsequent meeting was canceled and Zelensky was asked to leave the White House without signing the agreement, symbolizing a rupture in the relations between the United States and Ukraine. 

In Moscow, the altercation at the Oval Office was celebrated. Dmitri A. Medvedev, a top Putin lieutenant declared on social media that “the insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office.” 

This week, US aid to Ukraine was paused. A White House official confirmed the action, saying, "we need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution."

For now, the fate of the mineral deals remains unclear, as does the relationship between the United States and Ukraine.