Washington considers Zelenskyy's decision not to sign rare earth minerals treaty "short-sighted" - AP

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump considers President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision not to sign an agreement that would give Washington rights to half of Ukraine's rare earth minerals short-sighted.

According to The Associated Press (AP), one of the senior White House officials said this.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Zelenskyy's refusal to sign the document was short-sighted.

As Zelenskyy himself said in an interview with the AP on Saturday, February 15, he instructed his ministers not to sign the agreement because the document was too focused on American interests.

"I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest," Zelenskyy said.

Two unnamed Ukrainian officials — one current and one former — said in a comment to the AP that the document Washington proposed to Kyiv did not offer any specific security guarantees.

Several other unnamed officials confirmed that Washington views the agreement as compensation for support already provided to Ukraine by the Joseph Biden administration, as well as payment for future aid.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on February 14, an insider for the American publication The Washington Post, Josh Rogin, wrote that Ukraine refused to sign a document that would give the United States rights to 50% of Ukraine's rare earth minerals.

Recall that on the same day, U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that russia's war against Ukraine would end after agreements were reached on U.S. access to Ukrainian resources.

We also wrote that on February 15, the British newspaper Financial Times wrote that Ukraine did not sign the agreement because the document did not contain clear security guarantees from the United States.

Earlier, the Ukrainian News agency reported on the deposits of rare earth minerals in Ukraine and their estimated value.