Zelensky-Vance talks in Munich end without agreement on critical minerals deal
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is pressing for robust security guarantees from the US.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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KYIV/MUNICH - Talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice-President J.D. Vance ended in Munich on Feb 14 without an announcement of a critical minerals deal that is central to Kyiv’s push to win the backing of President Donald Trump.
Kyiv came back to the US earlier with a revised draft agreement of the deal that could open up its vast resources of key minerals to US investment, amid concerns in Kyiv over a US version that was presented to Ukraine on Feb 12.
“Our teams will continue to work on the document,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X, adding that he had had a “good meeting” with Mr Vance and that Kyiv was “ready to move towards as quickly as possible towards a real and guaranteed peace”.
Two members of the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters that “some details” still needed to be worked out.
It was not immediately clear what the sticking point was, but Ukraine is pressing for robust security guarantees from Europe and the United States that would protect it from Russia in the future if a peace deal is reached.
Mr Zelensky set out the contours of the deal in a Reuters interview last week, unfurling a map showing numerous mineral deposits and saying he was offering a mutually beneficial partnership to develop them jointly and not “giving them away”.
The minerals in question would include rare earth varieties, as well as titanium, uranium and lithium among others.
Mr Trump, who has not committed to continuing vital military assistance to Ukraine, has said he wants US$500 billion (S$674 billion) in rare earth minerals from Kyiv and that Washington’s support needs to be “secured”.
Asked earlier if there would be a deal agreed on Feb 14, Mr Vance had said: “Let’s see.”
Ukraine was presented with a draft accord drawn up by the United States on Feb 12 when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent travelled to Kyiv. Mr Zelensky said Ukraine would study it with a view to reaching an agreement in Munich.
Mr Bessent told Fox Business Network on Feb 14 that the Trump administration’s plan to end the war would intertwine Kyiv’s economy with the United States, with the US bringing its “best practices” of privatisation.
He said: “Part of it starts with intertwining the ... Ukrainian economy more with the US, and making sure that US taxpayers receive the return for the money they put in.”
Asked earlier if there would be a deal agreed on, US Vice-President J.D. Vance said: “Let’s see.”
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
‘One-sided’ offer?
Meeting for 90 minutes with a bipartisan group of US senators behind closed doors in Munich, Mr Zelensky voiced concern about the US proposal presented on Feb 12, three sources familiar with his presentation said.
He “felt he was being asked unreasonably to sign something he hadn’t had a chance to read”, one of them said on condition of anonymity. “I don’t think he appreciated being given a take-it-or-leave-it thing.”
Mr Zelensky discussed his own proposal for a mineral deal with the United States, the source said, saying it was drafted to comply with the Ukrainian constitution.
Two other sources characterised the proposal delivered by Mr Bessent as “one-sided”, but declined to elaborate.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, asked after the meeting if Mr Zelensky considered the US proposal one-sided, responded, “I think that’s fair to say.”
Mr Schatz said that the Trump proposal “needs massaging,” but declined to go into detail. REUTERS
