By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday Ukraine may sign an economic deal next week and President Donald Trump will not hesitate to raise sanctions on Russia if the need arises.
Bessent made the comments in an interview on the Fox News show “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” after he was asked for an update on talks about a minerals agreement.
“We have passed along a completed document for the economic partnership (that) is currently being reviewed by Ukrainians, and we hope to go to full discussions and perhaps even get signatures next week,” Bessent said.
Trump said on Monday he expects a U.S.-Ukraine revenue-sharing agreement on Ukrainian critical minerals to be signed soon.
Ukraine and Russia accused one another on Wednesday of flouting a truce on energy strikes brokered by the United States.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Washington to apply further sanctions on Moscow, which he said was clearly not pursuing “real peace.”
On Russian sanctions, Bessent said: “It will be determined by Russian leadership’s next moves, whether the sanctions go up or down, and President Trump, I think, would not hesitate to raise the sanctions if it gives him a negotiating advantage.”
The United States announced separate agreements with Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday to pause their strikes in the Black Sea and against each other’s energy targets.
Trump says he is pushing for an end to the war in Ukraine, which began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago. Russia had annexed Crimea in 2014.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Rod Nickel)
