Trump, Zelensky to sign minerals deal at White House meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet 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 while Washington reverses its punitive policy towards Moscow.

Zelensky, who gained billions in US weaponry and moral support from former president Joe Biden's 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 towards European security, to which the US has been an indispensable partner since World War 2.

The change in tone from the US, Ukraine's most important backer, has sent shock waves across Europe and stoked fears Kyiv could be forced into a peace deal that favours Russia.

The minerals agreement negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine's vast mineral wealth to the US but does not include American security guarantees, a disappointment for Ukraine.

It gives Washington the right to recoup some of the billions 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 about two-thirds of the money Congress appropriated for Ukraine was spent in the US.

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 Zelensky in recent weeks, criticising his handling of the war, calling him a dictator and urging him to agree to the minerals deal.

However, 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 said he was looking forward to meeting Zelensky and praised the Ukrainian military for its bravery.

“We're working very hard to get the war brought to an end. I think we've made a lot of progress, and I think it's moving along pretty rapidly,” Trump said.

“It'll either be fairly soon or it won't be at all,” he said, without elaboration.

Starmer said he and Trump had discussed a plan to reach a peace that is “tough and fair, that Ukraine will help shape, that is backed by strength to stop Putin coming back for more”.

Starmer said Britain was prepared to contribute military personnel on the ground to serve as peacekeepers “because that is the only way peace will last”. Trump dodged a plea from Starmer for US participation.

Under the agreement Trump and Zelensky are expected to sign on Friday, Ukraine would contribute 50% of “all revenues earned from the future monetisation of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets” to a reconstruction fund jointly owned and managed by the US and Ukraine.

The agreement does not name the assets in question, but they would include deposits of minerals, oil, natural gas and other extractable materials and other infrastructure such as LNG terminals and ports.

Reuters