Kyiv, Ukraine
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, DC in the coming days, after the United States and Ukraine agreed to terms on a deal over natural resources and reconstruction, according to a Ukrainian official.
Negotiations have been ongoing
for days over a deal that could grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth
minerals as part of wider negotiations to end Russia’s invasion, as well as US
involvement in a reconstruction fund for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian official said
the terms were agreed after “everything unacceptable was taken out of the text
and it is now more clearly spelt out how this agreement will contribute to
Ukraine’s security and peace.”
Details of the agreement are
not yet known, but a major sticking point had been a demand from the Trump
administration to a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other
minerals in exchange for the aid the US had already provided Kyiv, which was
previously rejected
by Zelensky.
The US has not confirmed
whether the terms of a deal have been agreed.
“I hear that (Zelensky is)
coming on Friday. Certainly it’s OK with me if he’d like to, and he would like
to sign it together with me. And I understand that’s a big deal, very big
deal,” US President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Asked what Ukraine would
receive in the mineral deal, Trump said: “$350 billion and lots of equipment,
military equipment, and the right to fight on.”
“We’ve pretty much negotiated
our deal on rare earth and various other things,” Trump told reporters, adding
that “we’ll be looking to” future security for Ukraine “later on.”
“I don’t think that’s going to
be a problem,” Trump said. “I spoke with Russia about it. They didn’t seem to
have a problem with it. So I think they understand … once we do this, they’re
not going back in.”
Ukraine has been pushing for
security guarantees, with Kyiv not only keen to see the return of lost
territory but protection against a possible future Russian invasion.
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