Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to sign a mineral deal with the U.S., President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters on Thursday.
“I think Zelensky has offered to sign it, and we’ll see if he follows through,” the special envoy said while standing outside the White House.
The agreement was apparently revealed in a letter Zelenskyy sent to Trump this week following the spat that unfolded live in the Oval Office less than a week ago.
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A joint event held with the Ukrainian president, Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other cabinet members ended in an uproar after Zelenskyy, apparently frustrated the deal did not include any security assurances, refused to agree to such terms and was deemed “disrespectful” and “ungrateful” by both Vance and Trump.
Witkoff told reporters “there’s a path back” to the White House for Zelenskyy following his letter to Trump, which was apparently well-received and included an apology.
“President Zelensky has demonstrated that he’s intent on that good-faith path back. He’s apologized. He said he’s grateful,” Witkoff told reporters. “He said that he wants to work towards peace.
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“That’s ultimately the goal here,” he added. “President Trump is an outcome-oriented man. He wants a good outcome, and a good outcome is peace. No more deaths and, a better world.”
Witkoff also announced that the Trump administration is currently working with its Ukrainian counterparts to set up a meeting in Saudi Arabia for next week to begin discussions on setting up a framework to initiate ceasefire discussions with Russia.
A similar announcement was made on Wednesday by Zelenskyy’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, who said a meeting with American officials was being set up for next week, and that he had been in discussions with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
Questions over U.S. support for Ukraine – which has been in doubt for weeks after Trump re-entered the White House – escalated on Wednesday after Walz confirmed that Washington had paused its intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Witkoff didn’t have any answers on when that support will resume or whether the Trump administration will take issue with European allies sharing intelligence with Kyiv.
“Hopefully we get things back on track with the Ukrainians and everything resumes,” Witkoff said.
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