An economic agreement between the US and Ukraine is not on the agenda for now, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant told CBS News, BTA reported.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump were supposed to sign an agreement on Friday that would allow the US access to Ukraine's mineral resources.
"I think we need to see if President Zelensky wants to continue," Besant told CBS News.
"What's the point of an economic agreement that will be meaningless if he wants the fighting to continue. "President Trump wants a peace deal," the US Treasury Secretary said.
"All President Zelensky had to do was come and sign this economic agreement and show again that there is a close relationship, a very close relationship between the Ukrainian and American people, and he chose to sabotage that," Besant added.
"So the deal is no longer on the agenda?" - asked CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan.
Besant replied: "Not at this time".
Before the verbal clash between Zelensky and Trump at the White House, the US Treasury Secretary had traveled to Ukraine to negotiate the agreement, DPA notes.
White House National Security Advisor Mike Walz said that Ukraine must cede the captured territories to Russia, the Financial Times reports, quoted by FOCUS.
The US is not yet ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. They will be included only after the peace agreement is signed, according to which Ukraine will cede territory to the Russian Federation. According to the Financial Times, this was stated by the advisor to the US President Mike Walz.
According to him, America can no longer "continue to provide billions and billions without end" to Ukraine. At the same time, he believes that today it is premature to talk about the security guarantees that Ukraine is seeking.
Walz is convinced that for the sake of peace, both sides will have to make concessions and compromises.