Trump claims Treasury Secretary Bessent was treated rudely during visit to Kyiv last week
US President Donald Trump has claimed that his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, was treated rudely during his visit to Kyiv last week.
Source: Trump on board the presidential plane, quoted by AP and reported by European Pravda
Details: The US president said it had taken Bessent a long time to get to Kyiv, only for him to be told that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asleep and unavailable for a meeting.
Quote from Trump: ""He [Bessent] travelled many hours on the train, which is a dangerous trip, and we're talking about the Secretary of the Treasury. He went there to get a document signed, and when he got there, he came back empty."
Details: Meanwhile, according to CNN, Trump said that Bessent was treated "rather rudely" and that President Zelenskyy was supposedly unavailable for the meeting because he "was sleeping".
Quote from Trump: "Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because essentially, they told him no and Zelenskyy was sleeping and unavailable to meet him."
Background:
- As reported before, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent travelled to Kyiv on 12 February to discuss economic partnership with Ukraine and met with Zelenskyy during his visit.
- At the time, the Ukrainian president said that the United States had presented Kyiv with the first draft of a partnership agreement that would provide for investment in Ukraine's mineral resources in exchange for further assistance.
- According to media reports, the Trump administration offered Ukraine to give the US 50% ownership of the country's rare earth minerals, but Zelenskyy refused to sign the document. The White House called the decision short-sighted.
- On 14 February, a meeting between Zelenskyy and US Vice President JD Vance in Munich was postponed to give the US an opportunity to work on the draft memorandum of partnership that Ukraine had finalised and handed over to the Americans.
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