Zelenskyy not going to US yet, and new draft agreement on minerals should be worked out by lawyers

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about the new draft agreement with the US on minerals that it is too early to talk about the agreement, the version of which has been changed repeatedly, it should be worked out by lawyers. Zelenskyy said this during a press conference in Paris (France) after a meeting of the leaders of the Coalition of the Willing on supporting Ukraine, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

At the same time, when asked whether he was going to go to Washington again to sign the agreement on minerals, Zelenskyy answered negatively.

"I am not going to go to Washington yet, because there is no such issue on the agenda," he replied.

Zelenskyy noted that there are already many different versions of agreements on minerals and he would like to approach this not theoretically, but practically, when there is a final version from the US, because the conditions are constantly changing.

He noted that earlier it was as if they had agreed with the US that there would be a framework agreement, and then a full agreement, and now the Ukrainian and US teams continue to work on the agreement, because America is changing the rules and proposing a full agreement right away.

"A full agreement requires a detailed study of this, because these are serious agreements that are ratified in parliament, but before all this, lawyers need to work again. We must act with restraint here, I would say, as we are constantly trying to act. Calmly, not to be nervous, but look at the agreement, the lawyers will study it. There are adequate things there - we will support it, if there are questions - questions always find answers. Therefore, it is too early to talk about an agreement, the version of which has been changed repeatedly," he said.

At the same time, he added that he would not want the US to have the feeling that Ukraine is against this agreement. Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine is constantly showing positive signals, supports cooperation with the United States, and does not want to give any signals to encourage the United States to stop providing aid or intelligence to Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Verkhovna Rada member from the Holos faction Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported that the new draft agreement with the United States on minerals provides that 3 out of 5 people in the Reconstruction Investment Fund from the United States have full veto rights, the US contribution is already provided to Ukraine with assistance since 2022, and the draft does not contain any security guarantees.