Volodymyr Zelensky erupted furiously at a senior member of Donald Trump’s administration and left him trembling with fear, it was claimed today, as the US and Ukraine inch closer to a deal to end the Ukraine war.
Earlier this month, Trump dispatched his newly minted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv to present the Ukrainian leader with a deal exchanging some of Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth for security guarantees against future Russian attacks.
But upon reviewing the contract in detail, Zelensky and his aides discovered that there were no real security guarantees to be found.
Instead, the contract was reportedly more exploitative than the conditions imposed on Germany after World War I, expecting Ukraine to relinquish huge quantities of oil, gas and mineral resources as a payment for US aid already provided.
Recalling the president’s fury, Ukrainian lawmakers claimed Zelensky’s bellows reverberated through the halls of Kyiv’s presidential palace as he laid into Bessent for expecting him to ‘sell his country’ to Washington.
‘He was very angry,’ a person present told the Financial Times, explaining how the gilded doors of Zelensky’s presidential office did nothing to stop those outside from hearing every word of the verbal beatdown.
Bessent was visibly shaken, his voice trembling as he delivered a stumbling statement to reporters moments after enduring the wrath of the Ukrainian President.
It comes as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today declared Moscow would ‘stop hostilities only when negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation’.
Meanwhile, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov accused Europe and the UK of prolonging the fighting in response to a fresh package of sanctions levelled by Brussels.
A dozen leaders from Europe and Canada are in Ukraine’s capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion today, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Donald Trump, today meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington, is notably absent.
Prior to his presidential telling-off earlier this month, Bessent had said that an agreement to an ‘economic commitment’ with the US would grant Ukraine a ‘long-term security shield’ provided by Washington.
The idea was first floated by Zelensky himself as part of his ‘Victory Plan’ unveiled before Western allies and Ukraine’s parliament in October.
At that time, the Ukrainian President said Ukraine could sign an agreement with the US, EU and other unnamed allies that would allow for joint investments and use of Ukraine’s natural resources.
But according to a private draft of Bessent’s proposal seen by The Telegraph, the contract offered earlier this month would have seen the US take 50% of revenues received by Ukraine from the extraction of natural resources.
It would have also granted the US 50% of the financial value of ‘all new licenses issued to third parties’ for the future monetisation of these resources.
Such a deal would’ve been extremely difficult for Kyiv to stomach even if it had come with concrete and detailed promises of long-term security guarantees to be provided by Washington.
But it appears Trump expected to receive ‘$500 billion’ worth of Ukrainian natural resources as repayment for military, financial and humanitarian aid provided to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
This figure appears to have been plucked from the ether, as the US’ own congressional reporting service shows the sum total of US aid for Ukraine thus far totals $174.2 billion.
Zelensky later claimed that only around $75 billion of this was military aid.
