Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he regretted last week's extraordinary Oval Office clash with Donald Trump and wanted to "make things right", adding that Kyiv was ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
In a fulsome statement issued a day after Trump halted military aid to Ukraine, Zelenskiy said he was ready to sign a deal giving the United States access to Ukrainian minerals, which he had left on the table when he abandoned a visit to Washington after an Oval Office argument with Trump on Friday.
"None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians," Zelenskiy said on X. "My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts."
The statement made no mention of the pause in US military supplies, the latest move by Trump to upend US policy on Ukraine and adopt a more conciliatory stance towards Russia.
But the statement was clearly aimed at stressing Kyiv's gratitude amid the fallout from the explosive confrontation at the White House on Friday, during which Trump and Vice President JD Vance upbraided Zelenskiy for being insufficiently appreciative of US backing and their efforts to end the war.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said afterwards that Zelenskiy should apologise.
"We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence," Zelenskiy wrote. "Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right."
Zelenskiy outlined a path towards a peace agreement, which he said could begin with a release of prisoners and a halt to air and sea attacks, if Russia did the same. "Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal."
Earlier, Zelenskiy's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Ukraine's forces could hold their own on the battlefield against Russian troops, but that Kyiv would do everything possible so that cooperation with the United States would continue.
"We will continue to work with the US through all available channels in a calm manner," Shmyhal said. "We only have one plan - to win and to survive. Either we win, or the Plan B will be written by someone else."
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