‘Ready to sign minerals deal but it’s not enough’: Ukraine’s Zelensky after clash with Donald Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he is ready to sign the minerals agreement with the US, highlighting that it will be the first step toward security guarantees. "But it’s not enough," Zelensky said, adding that the worn-torn country needs more.

"A ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine. We’ve been fighting for three years, and Ukrainian people need to know that America is on our side," Zelensky said after an on-camera "shouting match" between him and US President Donald Trump left the world stunned.

The Ukrainian President said, "Peace can only come when we know we have security guarantees, when our army is strong, and our partners are with us."

"We want peace. That’s why I came to the United States, and visited President Trump," Zelensky said, adding that the deal on minerals is just a first step toward security guarantees and getting closer to peace.

"Our situation is tough, but we can’t just stop fighting and not having guarantees that Putin will not return tomorrow," he said in a series of post on X.

Zelensky's statement came after he held a contentious meeting with US President Donald Trump to crack a deal centred on minerals.

Trump and Zelensky were set to sign a deal that would have created a joint US-Ukraine fund, investing in extracting the country's rare-earth mineral supply. Friday's meeting was supposed to ink a deal on rare earth minerals which are used to make a variety of tech products.

However, during the meeting, Donald Trump berated Zelensky for being “disrespectful”, and then abruptly called off the signing of a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia, the Associated Press reported.

As per the report, the Ukrainian leader was asked to leave the White House by top Trump advisers shortly after Trump shouted at him, showing open disdain.

It's unclear what the blowup could mean for the deal that Trump insisted was essential to repay the U.S. for the more than $180 billion in American aid sent to Kyiv since the start of the war. And it remains to be seen what, if anything, Trump wants Zelenskyy to do to get the deal back on track.