Secretary of State Marco Rubio has charged that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to “hustle” the US by claiming in public that he unilaterally rejected a deal to sign away half of his nation’s rare earth minerals — while telling American negotiators in private that he would discuss the matter with Kyiv’s legislature.
Rubio said the misrepresentation enraged him, Vice President JD Vance, and Russia and Ukraine special envoy Keith Kellogg after the trio met Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference last weekend and discussed the finer points of the $500 billion economic investment deal, which the Trump administration has described as a security guarantee to Kyiv.
“I was personally very upset,” the diplomat told independent journalist Catherine Herridge in a video interview posted on X Thursday night. “We discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we explained to them, ‘Look, we want to be in joint venture with you, not because we’re trying to steal from your country, but because we think that’s actually a security guarantee.’”
Zelensky told the American trio that he wanted to make the deal happen and that it “makes all the sense in the world” — but needed to run it by Kyiv’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, for approval.
“I read two days later that Zelensky is out there saying, ‘I rejected the deal. I told him, “No way, that we’re not doing that.”‘ That’s not what happened in that meeting,” Rubio said.
Trump, 78, lashed out this week at the Ukrainian leader, disparaging him as a “dictator” and denying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s role in starting the war by invading Moscow’s neighbor in February 2022.
“He sent a message that he’s not going to get gamed here,” Rubio said of the president’s comments. “He’s willing to work on peace because he cares about Ukraine, and he hopes Zelensky will be a partner in that, and not someone who’s out there putting this sort of counter-messaging to try to, you know, hustle us in that regard.”
The secretary of state was also surprised at what he called Zelensky’s lack of “gratitude” for the nearly $200 billion already provided by the US in the form of economic and military assistance, adding that it was “very counterproductive” for Ukraine’s leader to claim that Trump was parroting Russian “disinformation.”
On Friday, Trump added insult to injury by saying Zelensky was making “it very hard to make deals” and called Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s initial travel to Ukraine for the minerals agreement a “wasted trip.”
“President Trump is very upset at President Zelensky in some cases — and rightfully so,” Rubio said. “Joe Biden had frustrations with Zelensky. People shouldn’t forget that. There are newspaper articles out there about how he cursed at them in a phone call because Zelensky, instead of saying thank you for all your help, is immediately out there messaging what we’re not doing or what he’s not getting.
“I also think it’s silly to say, ‘Well, the Ukrainians are going to be cut out or the Europeans are going to be cut out [of negotiations],’” he added. “You can’t find a stop to a war unless both of the sides and their views are represented. They both have to agree to it. Like, Russia can’t agree to a ceasefire or to an end of hostilities, that the Ukrainians don’t agree to. It has to be on terms acceptable to both sides.”
The secretary of state insisted that Ukrainian officials, EU officials and G7 leaders have been kept abreast “throughout this process” — including before the session in Munich and the summit with Russian officials in Riyadh.
“To say that we haven’t consulted with them is not accurate; it’s not true. It’s also not true that we haven’t consulted with our allies in Europe,” said Rubio, who was at both meetings. “I personally spoke to the five foreign ministers right after my meeting with the Russians and walked them through what had happened.”
The sit-down in Saudi Arabia with national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, the GOP senator noted, involved “no discussions about any details” of a peace agreement but, rather was to re-establish diplomatic relations and suggest avenues for cooperation.
“I’m not sure the Russians are fans of the Iranian regime having nuclear weapons,” Rubio said.
“This meeting was as much as anything else, ‘Are you interested in even talking about ending the war?’” he recounted. “If you are, then let’s create a process where we can begin to engage at a technical level. And that process will now at some point be set up and begin.”
Vance said Friday that media reports on the peace talks have either been “entirely bogus” or been “missing critical info[rmation].”
“The president is trying to achieve a lasting piece, not massage the egos or anxieties of people waving Ukraine flags,” the vice president said on X.
“The idea that the President of the United States has to start the negotiation by saying ‘maybe we’ll let Ukraine into NATO’ defies all common sense. Again, it’s not appeasement to acknowledge the realities on the ground–realities President Trump has pointed to for years in some cases.”
