by WorldTribune Staff, March 4, 2025 Real World News
Days after his disastrous Oval Office meeting and hours after President Donald Trump cut off U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “it is time to make things right.”
“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this,” Zelenskyy said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
Zelenskyy, who had further angered Trump by claiming the war with Russia was far from being over, also expressed Ukraine’s willingness to sign a rare earth minerals agreement “any time and in any convenient format.”
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Trump has told his advisers he wants to announce the rare earths agreement in his address to Congress Tuesday evening, adding that sources cautioned that the deal had yet to be signed and the situation could change.
The deal that was to be signed last week included no explicit security guarantees for Ukraine but gave the U.S. access to revenues from Ukraine’s natural resources. It also envisaged the Ukrainian government contributing 50% of future monetization of any state-owned natural resources to a U.S.-Ukraine managed reconstruction investment fund.
On Monday, Trump signaled that his administration remained open to signing the deal, telling reporters that Ukraine “should be more appreciative.”
“This country has stuck with them through thick and thin,” Trump said. “We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us.”
Trump on Monday evening ordered a pause in all military aid to Ukraine. After the Friday meeting in the Oval Office, Trump said Zelenskyy should return when he is “ready for peace.”
The Wall Street Journal cited a senior administration official as saying all of Trump’s top national security advisers agreed with the decision to pause the aid after several meetings on the issue. Trump, enraged by Zelenskyy’s comments that he thought the end of the war was far away, felt the need to show he was serious about getting Ukraine to the peace table.
“The Ukrainians didn’t think we were serious,” the administration official said. “We had to make a demonstration.”
Zelenskyy wrote in the statement on Tuesday: “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”
“We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same. Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the U.S. to agree a strong final deal.”
In a Monday appearance on Fox News. national security advisor Mike Waltz said Trump’s White House needed to hear that Zelenskyy “has regret for what happened” on Friday and that he is now “ready to engage in peace talks.”
On Sunday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron suggested a freeze on strikes from the air, sea, and on energy infrastructure for 30 days in Ukraine. Macron told French media the window could be used to negotiate a wider peace deal.
Trump’s White House has yet to weigh in on the European proposal.
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