Media report on a dispute between Zelenskyy and the US Secretary of the Treasury. Financial Times

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy was very angry during a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Kyiv on 12 February over the mineral agreement, the Financial Times reported, citing a source who was present at the time.

"Zelenskyy’s struggle to keep international support was on full display in a recent tête-à-tête with a Trump envoy behind the heavy, gilded doors of his Kyiv office, where tensions flared over the future of Ukraine’s most important strategic alliance," FT writes.
The FT claims that the Ukrainian president allegedly shouted at the US official and describes the situation as follows: "The gravelly voice shouting from inside was unmistakable."

"He was very angry," one of the attendees stated of the Ukrainian president.

At the time, their discussion focused on the mineral sale, which the US hopes to use to compensate for its assistance for Ukraine during Russia's full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian sources said Bessent demanded that Zelenskyy sign the agreement immediately, but the Ukrainian president refused.

Earlier, Trump had spoken of a "rude attitude" towards the US Treasury Secretary. The US president stated that Bessent took a long time to reach Kyiv and that the journey was "dangerous".

"Scott Bessent did go there, and he was treated quite rudely because they told him no, and Zelenskyy was asleep and unavailable for the meeting," Trump said.

US President Donald Trump said he is going to revive the minerals deal with Ukraine that Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign.

Trump recently criticised Zelenskyy for refusing to sign an agreement to develop Ukrainian minerals.

Mike Waltz also referred to several of Trump's harsh statements about Ukraine, including Zelenskyy’s refusal to sign a deal that was unfavourable to Ukraine.