WASHINGTON - January 16 2025: Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent testifies before the Senate Committee on Finance [Editorial credit: Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com]
WASHINGTON - January 16 2025: Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent testifies before the Senate Committee on Finance [Editorial credit: Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com]

Zelenskyy’s officials were “rude” to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during negotiations over a proposed deal for Ukraine to repay U.S. military aid with rare earth minerals, President Trump revealed this evening.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return to the White House on Wednesday, Trump said Bessent had been “treated rather rudely” by Ukrainian officials when he visited Kyiv.

“We don’t get our money back, and we told them we’d do something for rare minerals, etc., etc., and they agreed to it—more or less,” Trump said.

“Then Scott Bessent went there and was treated rather rudely because, essentially, they told him no.”

Trump added that Zelenskyy had been unavailable to meet Bessent and that the trip had been fruitless.

“Zelenskyy was sleeping and unavailable to meet him. [Bassent] traveled many hours on the train, which is a dangerous trip, and we’re talking about the secretary of the Treasury. He went there to get a document signed, and when he got there, he came back empty,” Trump said. “They wouldn’t sign the document.”

President also suggested that he would revive discussions on the deal, declaring: “I’m going to resurrect it.”

Evidently frustrated with the amount of dollars U.S. has given to Ukraine in weapons and military aid, Trump said, “It’s time to figure out what happened with the money.”

The President said that he genuinely believes Russia wants to end the war and holds a strategic advantage over Ukraine.

“I think they have the cards a little bit because they’ve taken a lot of territory,” he said. “But we can make a deal with Russia to stop the killing.”

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Ksenija Pavlovic is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Pavlovic Today, The Chief White House Correspondent. Pavlovic was a Teaching Fellow and Doctoral Fellow in the Political Science department at...

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