Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that the Trump administration will resume military aid to Ukraine and that it will formalize the mineral rights trade if Ukrainian President Voldimee Zelensky and his team are “personally” talking about negotiations for peace deals.
President Trump “hopes Ukrainians will come to the negotiation table,” the VP told Capitol reporters ahead of Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress.
“I think the president is still committed to the mineral trade. We've heard some positive things, but of course we haven't got a signature from a friend in Ukrainian yet,” Vance continued, describing the agreement as “important” to Trump.
“When Ukrainians come to the negotiation table, I think everything is on the table,” Vance, 40, said when asked about the reopening of military aid that was stopped Monday evening.
Zelensky hoped to meet with Trump and Vance at the White House on Friday to understand that he would create a joint U.S. Ukraine Fund dedicated to extracting major minerals in war-torn countries.
Trump has promoted the billions of dollars the US has given to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, “back,” “back,” “back,” and “back,” and Zelensky celebrated the agreement as a way to acquire a form of “security” through the presence of American businessmen on earth.
But Trump, Zelensky and Vance quickly collapsed after Zelensky and Vance were caught up in a fierce debate about further security guarantees in their oval offices, accusing the Ukrainian president of being “disrespectful.”
Zelensky has since repeatedly said he will still sign a mineral trade, writing on Tuesday that he “time to get things right,” but Trump hasn't spoken to him since the explosion.
Vance said at the Capitol, Trump's team was less concerned about the “public statement” than private indications that Ukrainians were willing to “be meaningfully involved.”
“The public is less important than “what Ukrainians do to be meaningfully involved in what a peaceful reconciliation looks like,” he explained. “We need Ukrainians to come to us personally and say, 'This is what we need, this is what we want, this is how we can participate in the process of ending this conflict.' ”
“That lack of private engagement is one of our most concerns,” Vance added.
As of Tuesday, it was unclear whether communication took place between the Washington and Kiev administrations.
“Our meeting in Washington on Friday at the White House wasn't exactly what it should have been. It's a shame that it happened like this. It's time to get things right. The Ukrainian president wrote on X on Tuesday morning.
“In regards to mineral and security agreements, Ukraine is always ready to sign any convenient form. We consider this agreement a step towards greater security and robust security assurances, and we really hope that it will work effectively.”
