US set condition for Zelenskyy's meeting with Vance in Munich - Sources
Photo: Munich talks (Getty Images)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with US Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich on February 14. However, the US initially set a condition, according to the RBC-Ukraine's article titled "Lessons from Munich: Trump’s future vision for Europe and path to peace in Ukraine."
According to RBC-Ukraine, the American side initially set a condition: a personal meeting between Vance and Zelenskyy could take place only if Ukraine agreed to sign an agreement on mineral extraction beforehand.
However, in the end, this condition was lifted, and the meeting took place anyway. According to several sources cited by RBC-Ukraine, the Ukrainian delegation as a whole successfully passed this "test."
Zelenskyy personally explained to journalists that the proposed document was essentially one-sided and did not include any obligations or guarantees from the American side. Therefore, it would need to be revised — though Ukraine does not reject the concept itself.
"We carefully showed our American friends that we have our own position. They handed us a lemon with this agreement, and our task is to turn it into lemonade," a source in the Ukrainian delegation told RBC-Ukraine.
Background
The draft mineral extraction agreement was brought to Kyiv earlier in the week by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Americans wanted it signed in Munich, with an obvious motivation — this could be effectively "sold" to their domestic audience in the U.S. The message would be: unlike Biden, we are not just sending billions to Ukraine but instead making a profitable deal.
According to The Washington Post, the US insists on gaining control over a wider range of Ukrainian materials. Specifically, this concerns lithium, graphite, and uranium. WP reports that the US demand to take control of 50% of Ukraine's mineral resources has outraged representatives from Ukraine and Europe.
