Afrasianet - US President Donald Trump said he does not object to Vladimir Zelensky's visit to Washington, during which the US will be given part of Ukraine's mineral wealth is due to be signed.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: "I heard he will come on Friday. Of course, I don't object if he wants to. He wants to sign this deal with me. I understand this is a big deal, a very big deal."
Ukraine approves rare earth deal with US
Trump added: "I think Americans, even if you look at the polls, are very happy, because (former President Joe) Biden was spending money. This is a very important deal, it could be a trillion-dollar deal."
According to US media reports, Ukraine approved the final version of the draft agreement proposed by the United States on Tuesday.
With the exact terms of the final agreement remaining unclear, the draft discussed on Tuesday included the creation of a fund jointly owned by Ukraine and the United States, in which Ukraine would contribute 50% of its future revenues from the exploitation of natural resources, including critical minerals and oil and gas.
The United States will have the maximum financial interest in the fund allowed under U.S. law, the New York Times said in a report, adding that the fund would be designed to reinvest some of the proceeds in Ukraine, and the United States would commit to supporting Ukraine's future economic development.
The latest draft agreement no longer includes a demand that Ukraine contribute $500 billion to a U.S.-owned fund, nor a demand that Ukraine refund the United States twice the amount for any future U.S. assistance.
Analysts say that if that materializes, Zelenskiy travels this time to Washington, he will have bought the "most expensive ticket" in history to provide "mineral assets" to the United States in exchange for funding its war against Russia.
Financial Times reveals details of final version of Ukrainian and US minerals document and date of signing
The Financial Times confirmed that the minerals agreement agreed to by Kiev does not contain any mention of the security guarantees that the Ukrainian side has insisted on from the beginning.
Ukrainian officials made it clear they had reached more favorable terms after Washington abandoned its demands for $500 billion in potential revenue from natural resource extraction.Although the text does not include the security guarantees that Vladimir Zelensky was insisting on, Ukrainians described the document as "an expansion of relations with the United States."
The final document stipulates the creation of a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of the proceeds generated by "future liquidity" from state-owned mineral resources, including oil and gas and related logistics, and the fund will invest in projects in Ukraine. With the exception of resources that contribute to the government treasury, such as those already utilized by Naftogaz and Ukranavta.
The document left big question marks regarding the size of the US share and the terms of the joint ownership agreements, as the United States remained the beneficiary of the fund 100 %.
It is noteworthy that Ukrainian officials confirmed to the newspaper that a number of ministers of the Kiev regime approved the agreement, pointing to the possibility of Vladimir Zelensky traveling to the White House in the coming weeks to attend the signing ceremony with Trump.
In early February, Trump announced that Washington was interested in acquiring rare earth metals from Ukraine. On February 12, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent handed over the text of the minerals agreement to Zelensky in Kiev. Zelenskiy, who had previously expressed willingness to seal the deal, did not sign during a meeting in Munich with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.
Zelenskiy noted that security guarantees were absent in the proposed agreement. The Ukrainian delegation handed over a text with its amendments, which the Americans did not take into account in Munich. It has also strained U.S.-Ukrainian relations, with Trump calling Zelensky a "dictator" and demanding that presidential elections be held.
In the second edition, Washington asked Kiev to participate in an investment fund to which Ukraine would have to contribute $ 500 billion, in addition to giving the states the right to exploit 50% of the mineral resources for their benefit as compensation for the US aid that Ukraine has received since 2022.
Ukraine's rare metals whet Trump's "appetite." What do we know about it?
Statements about rare Ukrainian earth minerals have recently increased, after US President Donald Trump announced his desire to obtain them, so what wealth aroused the ambitions of the American leader?
Last January, the leader of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, approved the US president's new plan to resolve the Ukraine conflict. According to the plan, peace in Ukraine will be achieved by lowering oil prices, and Zelensky explained that Kiev has already begun to prepare diplomacy to ensure a strong position for the country and for Europe as a whole.
Ukraine has previously offered the United States cooperation in the extraction of rare earths, including lithium and titanium. This became part of the so-called "victory plan", which Zelensky presented to former US President Joe Biden and Republican members of Congress in October 2024 before the US presidential election.
Now, in exchange for U.S. assistance to Kiev, Trump wants rare earth metals, and the US president said: "We tell Ukraine that it has valuable rare earth metals, and we want guarantees. I want Ukraine to provide us with rare earth minerals." He stressed that the United States is investing millions of dollars to support Ukraine, and Kiev in return must supply those minerals.
Trump also stated on Monday, February 24, 2025, that he is interested in rare earth metals in Russia, as in Ukraine, and expressed hope that the United States will be able to sign an agreement on minerals with Ukraine "very quickly."
He claimed that this agreement would improve the economies of the two countries, as well as restore America "tens of billions of dollars and military equipment sent to Ukraine."
What minerals are there in Ukraine?
About 20,000 sites of mineral presence have been discovered in Ukraine, including 117 different types of minerals. Of these, more than 8,000 sites containing reserves of 94 types of mineral raw materials were considered industrially important.
Ukraine has reserves of oil, gas, coal, peat, shale and uranium, as well as iron, manganese, chromium, nickel, titanium, magnesium, aluminum, copper, zinc and lead ores.
There are also gold, silver, mercury, beryllium, lithium, zirconium, hafnium, tantalum, niobium, cobalt, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, yttrium, rare earth elements, as well as germanium and scandium.
For example, Ukraine's titanium reserves are estimated at 94 million tons, ranking third in the world, or 11 percent of global reserves. However, independent experts believe that Ukraine's share is only 1% of global titanium ore reserves.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine also announced that Ukraine has 5% of the world's reserves of so-called "critical raw materials", including rare earth elements. The list of rare earth minerals includes 17 elements of the periodic table, including scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, and others.
Ukraine has about 500,000 tons of lithium reserves, making these sites among the largest in Europe.
Some of the rare earth metal sites in Ukraine are located in areas that have become part of Russia. According to information from the American website "Oil Price", Ukraine lost control of two out of four lithium sites after the start of Russian special military operations. Most of the mining and processing companies were concentrated in Donbass, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkov, Poltava, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Crimea and Zaporozhe.
Ukraine accepted and then rejected
Zelenskiy has expressed a willingness to work with Trump to provide the United States with rare earth resources and other minerals in exchange for continued military aid to Ukraine, speaking in an interview with Reuters about a vast stockpile of rare earth resources and other important minerals as part of a deal to lure the U.S. president into a deal in exchange for security guarantees.
Zelensky explained: "The Americans have helped the most, so the Americans should earn more, and this should be their priority, and that's what they will get, and I would also like to talk about this with President Trump," in addition, Zelensky said that "Kiev and the White House are discussing the idea of using huge underground gas storage sites in Ukraine to store US liquefied natural gas."
Ukraine floated the idea of opening its vital minerals for investment by allies last fall, and the Financial Times wrote that Kiev admits that this is in line with one of the points of Zelensky's plan, which concerns making Ukraine's mineral deposits, including graphite, titanium and lithium, accessible to US companies.
Later, during the Munich Security Conference, Kiev authorities rejected the administration's plan to provide aid to Ukraine in exchange for giving Washington the right to 50 percent of the country's rare earth minerals. Zelenskiy noted that the proposed agreement does not include any security guarantees.
On February 16, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz strongly advised Zelensky to change his mind and sign an agreement with the U.S. on minerals, because Americans deserve compensation for "billions invested in the war," and Trump reiterated his administration's intention to return to consideration of the deal, saying, "I think I'm going to bring it back to life. We'll see what happens. But I will revive it or it will not be a pleasure at all," he said, without elaborating on the consequences he was thinking about for the Ukrainian side.
Although the leader of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, has stated that he does not want to sign an agreement with the United States on rare earth metals, because 10 generations of Ukrainians will pay for it, his chief of staff, Andrei Yermak, confirmed that the second round of negotiations with US representatives will take place soon.
Yermak did not specify the points to be addressed in the negotiations, and when asked about the rare earth agreement with the United States, Yermak replied that "the dialogue continues," adding: "No party has rejected anything yet, we are in a normal process that may take a day or months."
What did Russia say?
The Kremlin has described US President Donald Trump's plans to tap into rare earths in Ukraine as an offer to buy US assistance, not to provide it free or humanitarianly to Kiev.
Commenting on Kiev's recognition that Trump's plan is in line with Zelensky's "victory plan," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "Such a proposal by Kiev means that it is ready to hand over all Ukrainian natural resources to the property of its Western masters."
Grigory Karasin, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council, wrote on his Telegram channel: "It seems that the shameful head of the regime in Kiev, has remembered his forgotten market skills, and here he is talking seriously about selling all the mineral resources in Ukraine to the Americans. Here is a list of gold, coal, titanium and manganese ores. The list, of course, is much longer."
EU reiterates rejection of Trump's selfishness
Europe has expressed grave concern about the deal being discussed between the United States and Ukraine, which provides for the supply of Ukrainian rare earth metals in exchange for military aid. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed in particular that Ukraine's resources should be used for the country's post-conflict reconstruction, not to support defense, stressing that "such an exchange would be selfish."
"It would be very selfish to use Ukraine's resources to fund defense support," Scholz said. This view finds support from other European politicians, who express concerns about the long-term consequences of such a deal for Europe.
German MP Sarah Wagenknecht also sharply criticized the potential deal, saying it could lead to catastrophic consequences for Europe. Wagenknecht believes this will contribute to the continuation of the conflict at Europe's expense: "Here is 'peace in 24 hours'. Trump will continue the proxy war if Ukraine were to supply rare earth metals and other raw materials in return. "Great deal for the United States, but it's a disaster for people across Europe."
Details of the American Convention
The draft agreement on the investment of natural resources between the United States and Ukraine, published on Monday, provides for the latter to transfer half of its proceeds to a special fund, and according to the draft agreement, the United States will be the sole beneficiary of this fund.
The project notes that "Ukraine's contribution will amount to 50% of the proceeds it receives from the sale of natural resources, as well as from the country's infrastructure and other assets, until the total size of the Fund's resources reaches $ 500 billion," and it is assumed that Ukraine's contribution will be twice as large as the US contribution. Under the agreement, the fund will operate as a business hub under the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the Vice President.
The administration's mechanisms will rule out the possibility of violating U.S. sanctions regimes or other restrictions. The draft agreement states that it will be part of the overall structure of long-term peace agreements, and its aim is to attract private investment and rebuild the Ukrainian economy. Washington expects the planned fund to allow U.S. economic interests in Ukraine to be protected.