Preisdent Donald Trump told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky treated out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “rudely” when he traveled to the capital of Ukraine and didn’t even meet with him. But then photos of the two men meeting were posted online, contradicting Trump’s story.
Bessent went to Kyiv to talk to Zelensky about the Trump administration’s demands to access Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for continued support in resisting Russia’s invasion of the country.
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“Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because essentially, they told him ‘no,'” Trump told reporters yesterday. And Zelensky was sleeping and unavailable to meet him.”
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He said that Bessent “traveled 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. They wouldn’t sign the document,” Trump added.
The story is odd, considering there are photos of Bessent and Zelensky meeting.
“Zelensky met with Bessent at Mariinskyi Palace,” security analyst Jimmy Rushton posted on X. “Multiple photographs were taken and published of their meeting.”
Financial Times correspondent Christopher Miller confirmed the authenticity of the picture.
“I was standing right beside where this photograph was taken,” he wrote on X. “And then I stood 10 feet from both Zelensky and Bessent inside the presidential office again an hour or so later, when they emerged from their meeting to brief a small group of reporters.”
Indeed, can confirm. And I was standing right beside where this photograph was taken. And then I stood 10 feet from both Zelensky and Bessent inside the presidential office again an hour or so later, when they emerged from their meeting to brief a small group of reporters. https://t.co/TbJt1INOBC
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 20, 2025
Trump’s story comes after he called Zelensky a “dictator” even though he is the democratically elected president of Ukraine. Elections have been suspended in the past few years, though, because Russia invaded Ukraine, and the nation is at war.
Trump also said that Zelensky has a 4% approval rating, which is false. Polling from last month shows that 57% of Ukrainians say they trust their president.
Lastly, Trump claimed that Ukraine started the war with Russia, which is false. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and most of the combat has occurred within Ukraine’s borders.
These claims echo claims made by the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year that Ukraine actually started the war by not ceding Crimea to Russia in 2014.
According to Axios, the contract that Bessent brought to Zelensky would result in Ukraine giving 50% of revenue from the mining of rare earth minerals to the U.S., and that deal would be under the jurisdiction of a court in New York. Bessent insisted Zelensky sign the agreement right away, but Zelensky said that he couldn’t sign it without reviewing it first and getting approval from parliament.
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