The United States said Wednesday it is nearing a deal on Ukraine’s lucrative rare earth minerals needed for technology products to compensate Washington for the more than $100 billion worth of munitions it has sent to Kyiv to defend itself against Russia’s three-year war of aggression.
“We’re very close to the finish line,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a news conference that the framework of an economic deal is complete, but that U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine that the Kyiv government views as vital have yet to be settled.
Zelenskyy is expected to visit Washington on Friday for talks with President Donald Trump, who has long expressed skepticism about continued U.S. military support for Ukraine. In recent weeks, he has refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war and has initiated talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin without Kyiv’s involvement to settle the conflict that started with Russia’s invasion three years ago this week.
Trump said Tuesday of Zelenskyy, “Certainly, it’s okay with me if he’d like to” visit the White House. “He would like to sign [the economic deal] together with me. I understand that. It’s a big deal.”
Trump has called Zelenskyy a dictator, without blaming Putin for the invasion.
The U.S. leader has said he is particularly peeved that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, agreed to the Ukraine military assistance without any provision that Ukraine would pay back the cost. Biden led the coalition of Western allies in providing the military aid to fight Russian aggression without sending their own troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. Zelenskyy says the U.S. military aid was a grant and not a loan that needed to be repaid.
Zelenskyy said he expects to have wide-ranging substantive discussions with Trump.
“I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader said he wants to know whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for weapons investments and whether Washington plans to lift its economic sanctions on Russian entities and high-level associates and friends of Putin.
Elements of the deal
Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the country’s public television channel that Ukraine and the United States had reached preliminary agreement on the broad rare earth minerals deal and that it would be signed.
The preliminary agreement sets out the terms and conditions of an investment fund for the rebuilding of Ukraine, Shmyhal said.
Under terms of the deal, the plan would include investing 50% of proceeds from Ukraine’s minerals, oil and gas to create a “stable and economically prosperous Ukraine” if the war is ended, and half to a U.S.-controlled fund.
The New York Times reported the economic agreement includes a line that says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s effort to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace” but does not spell out details on what that might entail.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting with Trump on Wednesday in Washington to spell out a European initiative for a 30,000-person peacekeeping force to enforce a Russian ceasefire with Ukraine if such a truce can be reached, although no peace talks have been scheduled.
European leaders have said a peacekeeping force would require an American “backstop” of military assistance, such as American satellite surveillance, air defense or air force support. Trump has not committed the U.S. to such a plan.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
