White House national security adviser Mike Waltz also criticises Kyiv over ‘insults’ to US president.
US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy return to negotiations over a critical minerals deal with the US, amid a deepening rift between Washington and Kyiv.
Zelenskyy had on Wednesday rejected US plans to strike a deal for a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth to repay Washington for wartime aid, saying the US offered no specific security guarantees in the agreement.
“He needs to come back to the table,” Mike Waltz said of Zelenskyy at a press briefing on Thursday.
“President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” he said.
The comments came shortly after the US cancelled a planned news conference with Zelenskyy and a US envoy in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leader had planned to address the media alongside Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, the US envoy for Ukraine, following talks in Kyiv on Thursday.
“At the request of the American side, the format of the meeting provides for protocol filming and does not include statements or questions,” Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Serhii Nikiforov told reporters.
Photographers and video journalists were allowed into the room as the two men shook hands and sat across from each other at a table.
There was no immediate word from either side on the outcome of the talks.
Zelenskyy later said in a statement that he had a “good and detailed” conversation with Kellogg about possible agreements with the US on questions such as security and investment.
“We must and can ensure that peace is strong and lasting—so that Russia can never return with war,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
“Ukraine is ready for a strong, effective investment and security agreement with the President of the United States. We have proposed the fastest and most constructive way to achieve results. Our team is ready to work 24/7.”
The talks come after US President Donald Trump made a series of disparaging remarks about Zelenskyy, branding him a “dictator” and suggesting that Ukraine was to blame for the war that began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. In response, Zelenskyy said that Trump was living in a “disinformation space”.
“Some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, frankly, and insults to President Trump were unacceptable,” Waltz said on Thursday, in an apparent reference to those comments.
Trump’s comments about the war sparked outrage in Europe, where leaders said that they mischaracterised the war and cast doubt on the US as a reliable security partner. Trump has long said that the US contributes too much to European security, and that more of the burden should be borne by European countries.
The US president says he wants to reestablish ties with Russia and upended years of US foreign policy this week by dispatching several officials to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
US Vice President JD Vance defended Trump’s approach in a TV interview on Thursday, calling him “an effective negotiator” who “doesn’t take anything off the table”.
“I really believe we’re on the cusp of peace in Europe for the first time in three years,” Vance added.