Photo: Ukrainian and US Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump (Getty Images) Author: Maria Kucheryavets
The Ukrainian and American sides are close to a final agreement on minerals. US President Donald Trump explained what benefits Kyiv will have and is waiting for a meeting with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to sign the document.
RBC-Ukraine has compiled the main information about the course of events surrounding the rare earth metals deal between Kiev and Washington in the material below.
Content
- What Trump Said About Ukraine's Benefits from the Deal
- What were the initial conditions of the US
- What is known about the latest version of the document
What Trump Said About Ukraine's Benefits from the Deal
Against the backdrop of reports that Ukraine and the United States are approaching the final signing of an agreement on mineral resources, journalists asked American leader Donald Trump a lot about this last night. In particular, the head of the White House answered the question about what Ukraine will receive under this agreement.
“$350 billion (the amount that Trump claims the US has already allocated to Ukraine – ed.) and a lot of military equipment, the right to continue to fight. Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers are very brave, but without the US and their money and equipment, this war would have ended very quickly,” Trump said and recalled that at one time it was he who made the decision to supply Ukraine with Javelins.
At the same time, according to him, the agreement with Ukraine could allegedly be a “trillion-dollar deal.” Trump claims that Washington and Kiev “almost agreed on a deal on rare earth elements and many other things.”
Trump also confirmed that President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington could take place on February 28 , during which a “very big agreement” on US access to Ukrainian minerals could be concluded.
“Of course, I agree if he wants, and he would like to sign it with me. And I understand that this is a big deal, a very big deal,” the US president said.
When asked how long Ukraine would be provided with equipment and ammunition, Trump said that “it could take some time.”
“Maybe until we reach an agreement with Russia. We have to reach an agreement with Russia, otherwise – this will continue. … But now we will get our money back in one form or another,” Trump added.
What were the initial conditions of the US
In early February, the head of the White House announced his intention to negotiate with Kiev an agreement that would provide the United States with access to Ukraine's rare earth metals. Trump said that he wanted to “reimburse” for the aid provided to Kyiv, the amount of which, according to him, allegedly amounts to “$500 billion.” He later reduced the figure to $350.
In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his readiness to discuss investments with allies, but stressed the need for mutually beneficial partnership and security guarantees for Ukraine. Kyiv rejected the first version of the draft agreement on resources.
For this, Trump sharply criticized Zelensky, who noted that the aid provided by the United States was not $500 billion, not $350 billion, but about $100 billion. Moreover, he added that Kyiv would not recognize this as a “debt”, since it had agreed with the then administration of US President Joe Biden that it was grant aid.
As for the discussions on mineral resources, Zelensky spoke about this with Trump back in September 2024 in New York. In addition, one of the points of the president's victory plan is investment in mineral resources. Zelensky said that Ukraine has critical resources that are valued at trillions of dollars.
On February 12, 2025, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a draft partnership agreement to Kyiv, but Zelensky did not sign the agreement, explaining that the document did not meet Ukrainian interests. The media wrote that Washington wanted to obtain the right to 50% of Ukraine's mineral reserves. The White House called Zelensky's refusal “short-sighted.”
Discussions between the parties continued. On February 19, Trump's special representative Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv, with whom the Ukrainian side also held talks on this issue and submitted new proposals for an agreement to the United States.
What is known about the latest version of the document
After intense negotiations, the parties reached a preliminary agreement. Yesterday, the Financial Times reported that the parties had agreed on the terms of the fossil fuel deal, with Washington dropping its toughest demands. According to Ukrainian officials, they agreed on much more favorable terms.
The FT clarifies that Washington has dropped its demands for $500 billion in potential revenue . The February 24 version of the agreement, seen by journalists, provides for the creation of a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of revenue from the “future monetization” of resources, including oil and gas. The fund will invest in projects in Ukraine.
However, it will not include mineral resources, the funds from which are already flowing into the state budget, and it will not cover the activities of Naftogaz and Ukrnafta, the largest Ukrainian producers of gas and oil.
But the agreement makes no mention of the US security guarantees that Kiev initially insisted on in exchange for agreeing to the deal, the FT writes. It also leaves issues such as the size of the US share in the fund and the terms of “joint ownership” agreements to be decided in future agreements.
Media reports indicate that President Zelensky may visit the White House in the coming weeks to sign an agreement with Trump. This could happen as early as February 28.
However, a number of Western media outlets note that the details of the agreement continue to be discussed, and the final terms may be changed before the signing.
Let us recall that the Ukrainian government has officially given little comment on the progress of the deal and does not go into details. However, the day before, on February 24, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna reported that the Ukrainian and American teams were in the final stage of negotiations on the agreement on minerals.
At the same time, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, speaking about a potential agreement with the United States, assured that “nothing like a colonial deal” will happen.
Meanwhile, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin cynically stated that the Russian Federation is ready to offer US state and private structures joint work on rare earth metals, in particular in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Read more about rare earth metals and what mineral reserves Ukraine has in a separate article by RBC-Ukraine.
The following publications were used in preparing this material: Financial Times, Axios, CNN, New York Times.
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