After meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Sunday, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky told the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) he’s willing to sign the minerals deal that was supposed to be signed Friday in Washington, D.C., before discussions in the Oval Office went off the rails and Zelensky was asked to leave.
According to reporting by the BBC, here is what was said (through a translator):
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has quizzed Zelensky about the future of the agreement…
Zelensky answers saying the minerals deal is ready for [the] minister to sign. “It is our policy to continue what happened in the past, we’re constructive,” he continues, “if we agreed to sign the minerals deal, we’re ready to sign it.”
“The agreement that’s on the table will be signed if the parties are ready,” he concludes.
Listening to the video, here is what was said by the translator, so clearly we’re depending upon the translator’s accuracy, but he does seem to indicate that he’s ready to sign the deal that was ready on Friday.
The agreement on the minerals, the deal is ready. We are — if it wasn’t ready. There were many variants. But there is the last one, it is ready, and the ministers can sign it. Everywhere where I have said it as a president that we can do it. We do not retreat. It is our policy to continue despite what happened in the — in the past. We are constructive. If — we agreed upon signing it, we were ready to sign it. And honestly, I believe that the US will be ready as well. Perhaps there is a need in time to analyze certain things, but I would just want Ukrainian position to be heard.
The fact that it happened in the media, I did not prepare this meeting, and I was in those conditions that were there, and our extent was heard. Because I didn’t want our position to be ambiguous. It’s — I think that it was heard now and not at the negotiation table at which Putin will be present. We must all understand and know each other, understand these are those red lines. They are not emotional, they just happen to be there, and there is justice and truth, and that is it.