Trump, Zelenskyy to sign minerals deal at White House meeting
WASHINGTON—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with US President Donald Trump and sign a critical minerals deal on Friday as Kyiv works to regain US support to fight off the Russian invasion as Washington reverses its punitive policy towards Moscow.
Zelenskyy, who gained billions of dollars’ worth of US weaponry and moral support from the Biden administration, is facing a sharply different attitude from Trump. The Republican president has said he wants to quickly wind down the three-year war, improve relations with Moscow and recoup US money spent to support Ukraine.
Trump has also adopted a much less committed stance toward European security, to which the US has been an indispensable partner since World War Two.
The change in tone from the United States, Ukraine’s most important backer, has sent shockwaves across Europe and stoked fears that Kyiv could be forced into a peace deal that favors Russia.
No security guarantees
The minerals agreement negotiated in recent days would open up Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include American security guarantees, a disappointment for Ukraine.
It gives Washington the right to recoup some of the billions of dollars in costs of the US weaponry supplied to Kyiv through a reconstruction investment fund tied to the sale of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
A Center for Strategic and International Studies report last year found that about two-thirds of the money Congress appropriated for Ukraine was spent in the United States.
Long distance feud
Ukraine hopes the agreement will spur Trump to support Kyiv’s efforts to recapture territory seized by Russia. The deal also could win support from Republicans in Congress for a new round of aid to the war-torn country.
Trump has engaged in a long-distance feud with Zelenskyy in recent weeks, criticizing his handling of the war, calling him a dictator and urging him to agree to the minerals deal.
But during a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, Trump said: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”
Trump also noted he was looking forward to meeting Zelenskyy and praised the Ukrainian military for its bravery.
