A meeting to sign a major Ukraine reconstruction deal at the World Economic Forum was reportedly scrapped by the US side
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has canceled his trip this week to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after the White House reportedly scrapped plans for him to meet with US President Donald Trump.
The meeting was reportedly intended to serve as a sign-off for the ‘prosperity plan’ – an agreement regarding the rare-earths deal struck between Trump and Zelensky last year, which the US president has positioned as a way to recoup America’s expenses in the Ukraine conflict. It is reportedly envisioned to attract $800 billion in Ukraine reconstruction loans, grants, and private sector investment over the next decade.
Speaking to journalists in Kiev on Tuesday, Zelensky said he will stay in Ukraine unless there are “security guarantee” or “prosperity plan” documents to sign with the US side.
Shortly afterward, Ukrainian opposition MP Aleksey Goncharenko wrote that the Ukrainian leader would not travel to the World Economic Forum, as “the meeting with Trump was canceled.”
“No agreement will be signed,” he said on Telegram.
According to Axios, a US official has denied that any date for signing the ‘prosperity agreement’ was set, as it still needs work.
The Ukrainian leader had been “keen” on meeting with Trump, according to Politico. “The reluctance to have one is coming from the White House,” the outlet wrote on Tuesday, citing a Republican foreign policy expert.
The rare-earths deal was a key precondition for the US to “move forward” with a diplomatic push to end the conflict, Trump has said.
However, as of right now, Zelensky is the reason why the effort has not succeeded, the US president told Reuters last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready to make a deal… I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal,” he said.
Moscow has accepted a number of conditions laid out by the US prior to the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. “We still hope that these understandings remain fully valid.”
