President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a long-sought minerals deal that will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.
Trump made the announcement at the start of the first cabinet meeting of his second term, hailing the deal as “a very big agreement.”
The Republican president has long complained that the United States has spent too much taxpayer money to support Ukraine in the war with Russia that began when the Kremlin invaded three years ago. Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's deposits of so-called rare earth minerals — used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries — as a chance for Kyiv to pay back the U.S. for aid already sent for the war effort under Democratic President Joe Biden.
“The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get the money back and and a lot of money in the future,” Trump said.
Zelenskyy said a news conference early Wednesday in Kyiv that a framework of an economic deal had been reached, but that it did not yet include U.S. security guarantees, which his country sees as vital. The full agreement could hinge on the upcoming talks in Washington.
The framework is a preliminary step toward a comprehensive package that will be subject to ratification by the Ukrainian parliament, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine needs to know first where the U.S. stands on its continued military support, Zelenskyy said. He said he expected a wide-ranging conversation with Trump.
The economic agreement "may be part of future security guarantees, but I want to understand the broader vision. What awaits Ukraine?” Zelensky said.
But Trump, in announcing the meeting, was noncommittal about any coming American security guarantees.
“I’m not going to make security guarantees ... very much,” Trump said. "We're going to have Europe do that."
He said a U.S. presence working on mineral extraction would amount to "automatic security because nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there."
“It’s a great deal for Ukraine too, because they get us over there and we’re going to be working over there,” Trump said. “We will be on the land.”
Trump also said Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, the Western military alliance, and he hopes to soon speak face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin about reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that began when Moscow invaded in February 2022.
The Republican president declined to detail what concessions he would ask the two sides to make, but he underscored his administration’s position that Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO, the Western military alliance, is not tenable.
“NATO, you can forget about it,” Trump said. “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”
Since returning to office last month, Trump let Ukraine know that he wanted something in return for tens of billions of dollars in U.S. help for Ukraine. The White House has applied heavy pressure on Ukraine to grant American access to its vast reserves of the minerals.
Zelenskyy balked at initial U.S. offers, arguing they did not contain adequate security assurances for Ukraine and that the proposed price tag of $500 billion would saddle generations of Ukrainians with debt. But Kyiv is also keen to use the investments as a way of locking the U.S. into Ukraine’s fate.
The latest version of the agreement, seen by The Associated Press, says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.” It does not spell out any U.S. commitment to provide them.
“Participants will seek to identify any necessary steps to protect mutual investments as defined in the ... agreement,” it says.
After Zelenskyy spoke, a White House official made clear that accepting the agreement would be a precondition of Trump’s invitation to meet Friday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the invitation.
“This agreement may either be a great success or quietly fade away," Zelenskyy said. "And I believe success depends on our conversation with President Trump.”
“I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump has abruptly ditched some previous Washington policies. He scrapped efforts to isolate Putin and cast doubt on U.S. support for its European allies. That has brought momentous geopolitical shifts that could reset the war’s path this year.
Diplomats from Russia and the U.S. will meet Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said he wants to discuss with Trump whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for the purchase of weapons and investments and whether Washington plans to lift sanctions on Russia.
The preliminary economic agreement also sets out the terms and conditions of an investment fund for the rebuilding of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
67 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
Trump is more focused on his graft of Ukraine than in America's national security. One might hope Starmer could knock some sense in to him for a few hours but it seems extremely unlikely and meanwhile everyone is trying to read the Trump leavings without much success.
Underworld
Trump is so far out of his depth, it's almost comical.
Trump will not get his peace deal if he sells Ukraine down the river.
stormcrow
What an idiot! Trump has thrown away a key negotiating point to barter with. Three it away!
JJE
NATO won't be permitted by Moscow. And not even a milk-toast meaningless 'security guarantee'. Absolute desperation and preservation by the regime.
Russia wants the Russian speaking regions.
US wants to sink its fangs into Ukraine's mineral resources.
EU/UK want Kyiv to fight to the last man.
Lost more than half of the 1991 population. Most refugees not coming back. Shattered economy. Destroyed infrastructure, energy and industry. Shocking demographics. Amputees. Landmines. Reliant on foreign handouts. Signed away their resources, agricultural land and more. Soon to be angry soldiers walking the streets. All democratic institutions dismantled. Endemic corruption still flourishes.
Shambolic situation for what remains of that country with an ominous future. A lesson for others not to get sacrificed on the Altar of Geopolitical Ambitions.
Underworld
JJE
Nobody is asking for their permission.They don't get a choice in this.
Yeah, well, without security guarantees, there is no peace deal.
No he doesn't. He wants political control of Kyiv.
Not the US, Trump.
No they don't. Certainly Putin does.
Enough talk about Russia, what about Ukraine?
Exactly. Let's hope Putin learns his lesson.
TokyoLiving
Instead of having negotiated with Russia from the beginning, Ukraine began to play as the concubine of the US by allowing itself to be deceived, now its own "ally" and "protector", is going to take out its entrails
bass4funk
That’s right, it just will never happen, so to even contemplate the thought is not an option nor is it dealing with reality
Underworld
TokyoLiving
Putin has never wanted to negotiate. That's the problem. He still wants Kyiv.
I'veSeenFootage
And why would Donald Trump have a say in what a free, democratic, independent country wants to do, exactly?!
Yrral
Putin got the gold mine,Zelensky got the shaft
JJE
Credit where credit is due: relentless NATO expansionism from 1999 is one of the undisputed underpinning causes of this conflict.
Moscow clearly made Ukraine and Georgia a redline in the 2000s. Stepping over this line provoked the former.
Several smart souls out there predicted the obvious results. Many ignored the warnings.
Blacklabel
This isn’t happening. So move on to realistic things that actually can happen.
starpunk
And now with the quisling trump back in the WH, kissing Vlad's butt you can count on Russia getting the whole pie now.
I'veSeenFootage
Like Russia invading Poland next. And China invading Taiwan. Because Trump is weak on the world stage.
Underworld
JJE
“NATO, you can forget about it,” Trump said. “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”
Wrong, Trump. Try again.
Absolutely false.
And Georgia and Ukraine are not members of NATO. And yet Putin still invaded. So how was he proved again?
And the funny thing about that is that Sweden and Finland joined NATO after Putin's invasion.
And Putin says he is fine with that, even though Finland has hundreds of miles of border with Russia.
But the bigger picture here is that nations want to become members of NATO because of Russia imperialism and aggression in the region.
They think they did, but actually they were fooled by Russia.
Rightfully so, because they weren't real.
They also missed Putin's warnings of increase imperialism in the region. His forays into Georgia, his annexation of Crimea.
OkinawaRider
Ukraine in NATO push was one of the primary reasons for this war. POTUS calls it as it is.
wallace
The reason for the war is that Putin believes Ukraine belongs to Russia and hankers after the Soviet era.
JJE
NATO realignment will be one of the conditions up for negotiations when that occurs down the track.
Underworld
OkinawaRider
So when did Ukraine push for NATO?
Oh they didn't.
But Putin still invaded.
Underworld
JJE
Well, we can ignore that one. Russia doesn't get to make demands on NATO.
Blacklabel
Ukraine voted NATO membership goals into their Constitution in 2018, didn’t they? But that’s totally not “pushing” anything, right?
patkim
It's unbelievable that the U.S. has joined the modern form of the Axis of Evil. Siding with Russia and North Korea, and being in opposition with the rest of the world, is something I would've never thought possible. It's come to the point where the U.S. is losing all the goodwill and respect that they developed, and other countries around the world will be hesitant about sharing any intelligence with them.
itsonlyrocknroll
Exclusive: The full text of the US-Ukraine mineral deal
https://kyivindependent.com/exclusive-the-full-text-of-the-final-us-ukraine-mineral-agreement/
The Fund agreement shall be ratified by the Parliament of Ukraine according to the Law of Ukraine "On International Treaties of Ukraine."
A potential deal breaker if ever I read one
Perhaps a ceasefire is going to be discussed, so the trucks full of "rare earth" can roll in and out unhindered?
Bonkers, getting crazier by the day.
Toblerone
Eminently sensible. Ukraine was never going to join NATO, whatever the “prevailers” led themselves to believe.
This entire conflict has been caused and encouraged by greedy, amoral western players, the pre-Trump US heading the push.
Reality time.
lincolnman
What a sock puppet....
Trump's mouth opens, Putin's voice comes out...
Toblerone
Putin got the gold mine,Zelensky got the shaft
It was never going to be any other way.
OkinawaRider
I've seen Footage ,Like Russia invading Poland next.
This is so extremely unlikely to happen that it does not deserve a serious discussion.
Because Trump is weak on the world stage.
Quite the opposite, POTUS is accomplishing exactly what he set out to do on the world stage, ceasefire in Gaza and soon in Ukraine are the testament to this. World leaders are lining up to have a meeting with him. Well done.
Fos
A bit of history lesson, away from theI US military dispatches the usual suspects keep quoting, without any morals:
If there had been no decision in April 2008 to enlarge Nato into Ukraine the situation in Europe today and the situation regarding the European Russia relations would look fundamentally different and we would have a peaceful Europe. The catastrophic decision by George W. Bush and Condolezza Rice to expand Nato was totally ill conceived: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epyHOz-Pbs
JJE
Time for an examination of the mineral deal:
Apart from the obvious of no-security guarantees, absent are any hard facts and figures.
Enormous elephant in the room is Kyiv simply doesn't control the bulk of minerals. Many issues with extraction, economic feasibility, Moscow's permission stamp etc. Washington obviously knows all this.
Reasonable assumption based on these facts and what has transpired leading towards this (the scathing attacks, everything said including Munich etc) is this is all entirely bizarre. Clearly Kyiv regime is being squeezed like an orange and really has little choice but to comply. But where is this all heading is the real question.
From the Washington perspective, hard to believe this is serious and not concealing some ulterior agenda.
Fos
This is when you know people are forwarding US military dispatches without even knowing what they are talking about. And they still show up every day, and you wonder why Wall Street rose to historical records…
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/10/nato-refuses-to-backtrack-on-ukraine-georgia-membership-promise
https://abcnews.go.com/International/nato-rejects-russian-demands-security-guarantees-latest-round/story?id=82226913
Underworld
Fos
Actually the opposite. One can easily see Russia invading Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia or Poland if they weren't members of NATO.
What makes to OK with a hostile power with nuclear weapons in the region saying who can or cannot join a peaceful security alliance.
Wasabi
Ukraine is between a tyrant and a Bully. How does it feel to be the bad guy and taking advantage of a ruined country?
Underworld
Fos
Putin has never wanted to negotiate. That's the problem. He still wants Kyiv.
And you believe Russia. That in 2021, they are concerned about a 2008 plan to have Ukraine join NATO that has never been acted on?
Really?
It was a pre-text for invasion and a pretty weak one.
Do you also think that the Ukrainian government needed to be purged of NAZI's?
Primusinter
Zel still does not dare to say that the blame for the war with Russia lies entirely on Western countries. In fact, Ukraine protects only the interests of the West, and all the money invested in the war has nothing to do with the Ukrainian debt. This is a war of the West with the hands of Ukrainians. Ukraine owes nothing to anyone. Ukraine has lost everything in favor of Western intentions to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
theFu
Just 3 yrs and 10 months until this nightmare is over.
Underworld
Primusinter
Incorrect.
Russia invaded Ukraine because Putin does not believe that it should exist as a soverign nation.
That's it.
And he thought that it would be over in a week and that he would have political control over Kyiv.
No Ukrainian thinks that weapons supplied by the west is a bad thing. In fact, they would say that they should have got more powerful weapons sooner.
Blacklabel
Are you playing word games and calling it “waste”?
Waste is also “something” that was found- not nothing.
geronimo2006
I can think of one person. And I'm quite certain he's already making plans.
Primusinter
The losing side is the first to talk about peace talks. Putin is winning. So you need to convince him that you are interested, at least, in negotiating peace. Well, or you will wait with your empty-head only for the conditions for your surrender.
About Kiev. Not only Kiev. Nikolaev, Odessa too. The cities are Russian.
Underworld
Primusinter
Putin has never wanted to negotiate. That's the problem. He still wants Kyiv.
Putin does not control Kyiv, so he has lost. That was his main war aim.
Well, Trump does.
But my point is that many posters here say that Putin has offered peace before.
The fact is, he never has.
Russia can't sustain this war, and the longer it goes on, the weaker Russia's economy becomes.
Nope. Kyiv and Odesa are Ukrainian.
Jimizo
To be fair, you along with other alternative media watchers told us that Russia wouldn’t invade Ukraine. Something about MSM fear mongering/brainwashing.
Best think about the possibility.
lincolnman
A clear example that the once strong anti-Soviet/anti-communism Republican Party has been neutered and turned into nothing but a cult of supplicants and Putin's useful idiots...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/did-russia-invade-ukraine-putin-191800858.html
Underworld
FizzBit
How long do you think Estonia could repel the Russian army?
Not long at all.
But they have NATO protection.
So Russia won't invade.
If only Ukraine had NATO protection.
If only.
Oh, it's a worryingly real situation. Especially when Putin wants to reconstruct the old Soviet Union.
That sounds hopeful.
Primusinter
Don't carry the nonsense! There is no reason for Russia to invade these small, worthless states. They're just a hassle and have no use. Russia has plenty of such "goods" of its own. Your untrained, ignorant readers (not all, of course) believe you with their mouths open. But you're lying without limits
Underworld
Primusinter
One can easily see Russia invading Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia or Poland if they weren't members of NATO.
I agree.
Except that Putin wants to.
I'm not.
But Putin is.
OkinawaRider
And why would Donald Trump have a say in what a free, democratic, independent country wants to do, exactly?!
Because of the hundreds of billions$ the US provided to Ukraine is the answer everyone knows.
Primusinter
Don't confuse to "offer" and to "be ready and to be open". Putin has always been ready and open , but never offered.
Why you delete my posts??? You don't like the truth???
Tokyo Guy
Fair enough, as long as he understands that the US can "forget about" joining the civilised world while he's president.
Underworld
Blacklabel
And the EU. That was there as well.
No.
NATO is a security alliance and Russia the bully in the region has already annexed Crimea.
It's totally understandable that Ukraine would want to join a security alliance.
Bob Fosse
Putin releasing the peepee tape?
I believe it is real.
elephant200
That was really a very big "Stab in the back" betrayal of Ukraine. The whole world should never trusting anything from Donald Trump and U.S. !
Wasabi
elephant200
Agree, never trust a liar and a "Stab in the back" person. Never!
JJE
Mineral deal part II:
The agreement in this form is entirely consistent with DJT's hardball 'NY-property-developer' approach to negotiating deals: he first raises the stakes sky-high and makes impossible demands ($500b), knocking the other party off balance and after 'listening' to the other side's objections, agrees to some kind of counteroffer.
In reality this intermediate offer in particular gives nothing to either party. US does not receive compensation for its funds from Ukraine, and Ukraine does not receive security guarantees from the US, nor promises of weapons/funds in the interim.
Difficult to ascertain what the meaning of the 'deal' in the presented version is, other than purely ritualistic.
Primusinter
The most surprising is that you are quite right! Especially those Ukrainians think so who left the country and having no intention to be back ever. The quality of your propaganda is surprising: in just ten years, you have turned millions of people into a zombie-like, shapeless mass of pro-Western fanatics who are unable to think with their heads. Yes, Russia has lost the propaganda war. Now we recall the anecdot about Russian tank on the Champs-Elysees
Primusinter
Nu, Underworld, what about Ukrainian tsars who founded Odessa and Nikolaev? You deleted my post with the question. You can't remember or what?
I'veSeenFootage
Yeah, go ask people in Poland what they think about it. Putin has already "joked" that Poland should be part of Russia. I don't take Putin's jokes lightly, and the polish people certainly don't either.
People in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania also take that threat extremely seriously.
Appease and befriend dictators, yes.
I'veSeenFootage
Europe has provided more billions than the US, that doesn't mean that either now "owns" Ukraine and decides what it can and can't do. Aid is not a buyout.
R B Quinn
The convicted felon and former Insurrectionist-in-Chief is just following “his masters voice” … all the way from the Kremlin.
It’s simply quid pro quo … as long as he obeys his master, Putin will not release all the video he has of him during his shenanigans in Moscow years before his political life. started.
tooheysnew
Europe should evict the US from NATO, invite Mexico to join, & form a new alliance.
Then cease purchasing military equipment from the US, & concentrate on developing & manufacturing their own.
Wasabi
This is exactly what will happen maybe not with the "evict the US" but with a new alliance. The US will be black listed like russia and North Korea.
HopeSpringsEternal
Let's hope DJT can ensure a sustainable and durable peace for this region, so Ukraine can fully recover.
Ukraine joining NATO will only ensure future war with Russia, putting entire world at risk of WWIII, inflation caused by currency real asset purchasing power destruction and a generally broken global order etc.
Underworld
HopeSpringsEternal
Unlikely.
Ukraine joining NATO will only ensure future war with Russia, putting entire world at risk of WWIII,
How so? Poland is part of NATO. Is that putting the entire world at risk of WWIII?
This war is terrible for Ukraine, and you talk about currency rates?
Blacklabel
you make it sooooo easy for everyone to dismiss anything you say as being said by an unserious person,
wtfjapan
Europe has provided more billions than the US, that doesn't mean that either now "owns" Ukraine and decides what it can and can't do. Aid is not a buyout.
exactly, and when Zelensky is gone the next president could easily defund that agreement. any mineral agreement will need security guarantees, otherwise whats the point if those minerals are annexed by Russia. I hope the EU provides far more support, Ukraine can then rewrite the deal to favor Europe instead. As Trump has shown, trade agreements are easily thrown out on a whim depending on what administration is in power.
patkim
I keep hearing what Ukraine has to give up. Where are the concessions that Russia needs to make? Will Russia have to pay Ukraine for all the people they killed by illegally invading? I think, that if Ukraine makes this mineral deal, they should just let the U.S. mine in areas illegally controlled by Russia. That would be fair.
starpunk
Then why has Russia been committing cyberwar against those nations for over a decade now? That's how they installed the quisling fascist puppet trump into the WH. Putin has a sputnik running the USA and he wants sputniks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Finland, just like he has in Georgia, Kazakhstan, etc.
Look at Vile Vlad's face, he's grinning from ear to ear. He's got the USA under his thumb as Khrushchev once boasted about, and he wants to rebuild the czarist Russian Empire for the 21st Century with himself at the helm. He wants it. He wants it all, man. All of it. ALL of it!
And of course that includes the Ukraine. That's why Russia started this stupid war in the first place no matter what the Incestuous Iscariot 'I-Can-Never-Be-Depended-On-For-Anything, Let-Alone-Tell-the-Truth' says.
starpunk
Ethnic cleansing of Gaza so he can build a selfish 'Sun City' type resort there to glorify his vile ungodly ego. That's real a 'Peace Prize' agenda, isn't it?
It normally would be a laughable notion but in this case I don't know whether to cry or throw up.