U.S President, Donald Trump has stated that he received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stating that he is ready for discussions with Russia and to sign a rare minerals contract.
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Trump said in an address to Congress on Tuesday night while quoting from the letter.
“‘My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts’,” Trump quoted Zelenskyy as writing.
“Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” he said. “It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.”
Trump’s admission came only days after a heated disagreement between him and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office resulted in the US suspending critical military supplies to Ukraine in the fourth year of its war with Russia.
Zelenskyy has now attempted to re-engage Trump, stating on social media that their disagreement was “regrettable” and that he wants “to make things right”.
In his Congress address, Trump also said Ukraine was ready to sign an agreement for rare earth minerals “at any time that is convenient for you”, giving no further details.
Ukraine is believed to have deposits of strategically important minerals – including titanium, lithium and manganese – that could be useful for US aerospace, electric vehicle and medical manufacturing.
The Trump administration has argued that strengthening economic ties with Ukraine through an accord granting the US access to such valuable mineral deposits would deter Russia from acting against Kyiv in the future.
Zelenskyy left the deal on the table during his visit to Washington, DC, following an Oval Office confrontation with Trump, in which US Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of being ungrateful for US help and Trump declared that he had no “cards” to play.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said cutting off US military supplies to Ukraine was the best step toward peace, while it was awaiting confirmation of Trump’s decision.
Democrats in the United States have expressed outrage at Trump’s rapid move toward Russia, the most drastic geopolitical shift in generations for Washington, DC, where governments of both parties have prioritized defending Europe from a hostile Moscow since the 1940s.
