Ukraine, US near minerals deal, but no security guarantees
KYIV—Ukraine and the United States have reached an agreement on a framework for a broad economic deal that would include access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, three senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.
The officials, who were familiar with the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. One of them said that Kyiv hopes that signing the agreement will ensure the continued flow of US military support that Ukraine urgently needs.
The agreement could be signed as early as Friday and plans are being drawn up for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to travel to Washington to meet Trump, according to one of the Ukrainian officials.
Another official said the agreement would provide an opportunity for Zelenskyy and Trump to discuss continued military aid to Ukraine, which is why Kyiv is eager to finalize the deal.
‘Very big deal’
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he’d heard that Zelenskyy was coming and added that “it’s OK with me, if he’d like to, and he would like to sign it together with me.”
Trump called it “a very big deal,” adding that it could be worth a trillion dollars. It could be whatever, but it’s rare earths and other things.”
According to one Ukrainian official, some technical details are still to be worked out.
However, the draft does not include a contentious Trump administration proposal to give the $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv.
Instead, the United States and Ukraine would have joint ownership of a fund, and Ukraine would in the future contribute 50 percent of future proceeds from state-owned resources, including minerals, oil, and gas.
One official said the deal had better terms of investments and another one said that Kyiv secured favorable amendments and viewed the outcome as “positive.”
No security guarantees
The deal does not, however, include security guarantees. One official said that this would be something the two presidents would discuss when they meet.
This comes after Trump and Zelenskyy traded sharp rhetoric last week about their differences over the matter.
