US and Ukraine near an economic deal with mineral rights but no security
promise, officials say
 [February 26, 2025]
By SUSIE BLANN, HANNA ARHIROVA and VASILISA STEPANENKO
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine and the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 President Donald 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.
Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he’d heard that
Zelenskyy was coming and added that “it’s okay with me, if he’d like to,
and he would like to sign it together with me.”
Trump called it a big deal that 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 determined. However, the draft does not include a contentious Trump
administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits
from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime
assistance to Kyiv.
Instead, the U.S. and Ukraine would have joint ownership of a fund, and
Ukraine would in the future contribute 50% 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.”
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In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press
service, servicemen get an MRLS BM-21 "Grad" ready to fire towards
Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine,
Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized
Brigade via AP)
The deal does not, however, include security guarantees. One official
said that this would be something the two presidents would discuss when
they meet.
The progress in negotiating the deal comes after Trump and Zelenskyy
traded sharp rhetoric last week about their differences over the matter.
Zelenskyy said he balked at signing off on a deal that U.S. Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent pushed during a visit to Kyiv earlier this
month, and the Ukrainian leader objected again days later during a
meeting in Munich with Vice President JD Vance because the American
proposal did not include security guarantees.
Trump then called Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” and
claimed his support among voters was near rock-bottom.
But the two sides made significant progress during a three-day visit to
Ukraine last week by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special
envoy to Ukraine and Russia.
The idea was initially proposed last fall by Zelenskyy as part of his
plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.
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