He
was looking for support, and what he got was an offer to pillage his country.
He would have been his country's disgrace if he just signed that "deal" as it stood, and Trump would have boasted about it for years, of how stupid Zelensky had been, and how he stole 500 billions in return for nothing.
You can see from the beginning of the press conference that something wasn't right, Zelensky was probably expecting a discussion rather than the direct signing that Trump began talking about.
Zelensky, if he didn't want things to break down, for sure exaggerated in how he behaved, he wasn't able to contain his distress.
But just signing that agreement, without trying anything, would have been foolish, and things are likely to end better for Ukraine now.
I'm bewildered that no attempt was made to get a minerals agreement with Europe, by the way; if Ukraine really has to give up some of its resources, it would be a lot wiser to give them to Europe, you can't place any whatsoever trust in the US right now.
A deal with Europe could let them get much more involved with the war, by bolstering the public support for it; and yes, Europe has a lot less military resources than the US, but at least you can rely on its word.