WASHINGTON >> Ukraine was given “fair warning” by the White House before President Donald Trump this week ordered a pause on U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The Republican administration announced the pauses this week after Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’sOval Office meeting devolved into a shouting match, with the U.S. president and Vice President JD Vance excoriating the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. assistance sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded three years ago.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said the pause is already having an impact on Kyiv, adding that the Ukrainians “brought it on themselves.”

“The best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose,” Kellogg said at an event Thursday at the Council on Foreign Relations. “You got their attention.”

Kellogg said it was made clear to the Ukrainians before last week’s Oval Office meeting that the talks would focus on signing a critical minerals deal. The agreement, which the two sides still have not signed, would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth deposits and could be of value to U.S. aerospace, electric vehicle and medical manufacturing.

Trump administration officials have said the economic pact would bind the U.S. and Ukraine closer together and would give Russian President Vladimir Putin pause before considering malign action against Ukraine in the future. Zelenskyy had been pressing the White House for explicit security guarantees, to no avail.

Kellogg said last week’s talks went sideways because Zelenskyy pressed Trump — who is trying to play the role of intermediary to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia — to side with Kyiv.

Zelenskyy later called the heated words “regrettable” and said he’s ready to sign an agreement.

Trump in an exchange with reporters on Thursday said he believed his administration had made “a lot of progress” in recent days with both Ukraine and Russia, but did not specify how.

“I think what’s going to happen is Ukraine wants to make a deal, because I don’t think they have a choice,” Trump said. “I also think that Russia wants to make a deal because in a certain different way — a different way that only I know, only I know — they have no choice either.”

In his nightly address Zelenskyy confirmed that talks between Ukraine and the U.S. are scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia next week.

“I am scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia to meet with the crown prince,” said Zelenskyy, referring to Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the throne of the oil-rich kingdom. “After that, my team will stay in Saudi Arabia to work with American partners. Ukraine is most interested in peace.”

Another Trump special envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed that senior administration officials are arranging to hold talks with top Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia. Witkoff noted that Zelenskyy has been apologetic in recent days about the White House blowup and expressed gratitude. He was circumspect about whether the minerals deal would be signed during the expected meeting in Saudi Arabia. “We’ll see if he follows through,” Witkoff said.

But Kellogg said he couldn’t guarantee a resumption of weapons deliveries even if Zelenskyy accepts the deal.

“That’s up to the president,” Kellogg said. He added, “You don’t negotiate peace discussions in public. You don’t try to challenge the president of the United States in the Oval Office.”

Trump said in a speech before Congress on Tuesday that Zelenskyy had written to him to say he appreciates U.S. support for his country in its war with Russia.