What Ukraine gains from minerals deal with US and current talks status

Contents

• What Trump said about Ukraine's benefits from the deal
• Initial US conditions
• Latest version of the document

What Trump said about Ukraine's benefits from the deal

Amid reports that Ukraine and the United States are approaching the final signing of the minerals agreement, journalists asked American leader Donald Trump a lot about it last night. In particular, the head of the White House answered the question about what Ukraine will receive under this agreement.

“$350 billion, lots of military equipment, and the right to fight on. Ukraine is very brave but without the US, its money and its equipment, this war would have been over in a very short period of time,” Trump said and reminded that it was he who had decided to supply Ukraine with Javelins.

At the same time, he said, the deal with Ukraine could be a trillion-dollar deal. Trump claims that Washington and Kyiv almost agreed on a deal on rare earth elements and many other things.

Trump also confirmed that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Washington could take place on February 28, during which a very big deal on US access to Ukrainian minerals could be concluded.

“Certainly it's okay with me if he'd like to. And he would like to sign [the rare earth deal] together with me, and I understand. That's a 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 have a deal with Russia… We need to have a deal, otherwise it’s going to continue,” Trump added.

Initial US condition

In early February, the head of the White House announced his intention to negotiate a deal with Kyiv that would provide the United States with access to Ukraine's rare earth metals. Trump said that in this way he wanted to repay the aid provided to Kyiv, which, according to him, allegedly amounted to “$500 billion.” Later, he reduced the figure to 350.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his readiness to discuss investments with allies but emphasized the need for a mutually beneficial partnership and security guarantees for Ukraine. Kyiv rejected the first version of the draft resource agreement.

For this, Trump sharply criticized Zelenskyy, who emphasized that the US assistance amounted to about $100 billion, not $500 billion or $350 billion. Moreover, he added that Kyiv would not recognize it as a debt because it had agreed with the then US President Joe Biden's administration that it was grant aid.

As for the discussions on minerals, Zelenskyy spoke with Trump about it in September 2024 in New York. In addition, one of the points of the president's victory plan is investment in minerals. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has critical resources estimated at trillions of dollars.

On February 12, 2025, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a draft partnership agreement to Kyiv, but Zelenskyy did not sign it, explaining that the document did not meet Ukrainian interests. The media reported that Washington wanted to get the right to 50% of Ukraine's mineral reserves. The White House called Zelenskyy's refusal short-sighted.

Discussions between the parties continued. On February 19, Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv, with whom the Ukrainian side also negotiated on this issue and submitted new proposals for the deal to the United States.

Latest version of the document

After intensive negotiations, the parties reached a preliminary agreement. Yesterday, the Financial Times wrote that the parties had agreed on the terms of the fossil fuel deal and that Washington had dropped its most stringent demands. According to Ukrainian officials, they agreed on much more favorable terms.

The FT specifies that Washington has dropped its claim to $500 billion in potential revenue. The February 24 version of the agreement, which was seen by journalists, provides for the creation of a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of the revenues 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, which are already paid to the state budget, and it will not cover the activities of Naftogaz and Ukrnafta, Ukraine's largest gas and oil producers.

However, the agreement makes no mention of the US security guarantees that Kyiv had 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 for future agreements to be considered.

Media reports suggest that in the coming weeks, President Zelenskyy may visit the White House to sign the deal with Trump. This could happen as early as February 28.

However, a number of Western media outlets note that the details of the agreement are still being discussed, and the final terms may be changed before the signing.

The Ukrainian government has not commented much on the progress of the deal and does not go into details. However, the day before, on February 24, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said that the Ukrainian and American teams were in the final stages of negotiations on the minerals agreement.

At the same time, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, referring to a potential agreement with the United States, assured that nothing like a colonial agreement would happen.

Meanwhile, Russia's Vladimir Putin cynically stated that Russia is ready to offer public and private US entities to work together on rare earth metals, in particular in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Sources: Financial Times, Axios, CNN, New York Times.