Zelenskyy to Meet Trump in Washington to Sign Minerals Deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to sign a minerals deal as Kyiv seeks to regain American support in the Russia-Ukraine war.

It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump re-took office in January.

Trump has changed Washington’s approach to the conflict since taking office last month, shifting from the previous administration’s stance of not engaging with the Kremlin to opening peace talks with Moscow.

Trump has said he wants to quickly wind down the war, improve relations with Russia, and recoup American money spent on supporting Ukraine.

Under the previous administration, Zelenskyy received billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weaponry and vocal backing on the world stage.

Trump has also urged Europe to spend more of its own money on national defense rather than relying on U.S. support.

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The minerals agreement negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include U.S. security guarantees.

It gives Washington the right to recoup some of the billions of dollars given to Kyiv through a reconstruction investment fund tied to the sale of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

Ukraine needs to know where the United States stands on its continued military support, Zelenskyy said.

Under the agreement Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to sign, Ukraine would contribute 50 percent of “all revenues earned from the future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets” to a reconstruction fund jointly owned and managed by the United States and Ukraine.

The agreement does not specify how the funds would be spent, or identify specific assets it covers, though it says they would include deposits of minerals, oil, and natural gas as well as infrastructure such as gas terminals and ports.

A more detailed agreement on the setting up of the fund will be drawn up once the preliminary one has been inked.

In recent weeks, Trump has criticized Zelenskyy’s handling of the war, calling him a dictator and urging him to agree to the minerals deal.

Asked about the dictator remark, 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 also noted he was looking forward to meeting Zelenskyy and praised the Ukrainian military for its bravery.

“We’re working very hard to get that 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.”

Trump has also stated this week that he expects Zelenskyy will have to make concessions to Russia, as part of the final deal to bring an end to the fighting between the two countries.

When asked what concessions Ukraine would likely have to make, Trump said: “I don’t want to tell you right now, but I can tell you that NATO you can forget about. That’s been, I think—that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”

Moscow has always regarded Ukrainian membership of the NATO alliance as an unacceptable threat.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.