Zelenskyy visits US: Key details

Contents

• Program of the visit
• Bipartisan meeting with senators
• Meeting with Trump
• Signing an agreement with the US

Program of the visit

The plane of the President of Ukraine landed in the United States at Joint Base Andrews at night, Kyiv time, FlightAware reports. The flight of the presidential plane from Shannon Airport in Ireland to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, USA, lasted 8 hours.

Officially, the Office of the President of Ukraine did not release details of Zelenskyy's visit to the United States. According to media reports, the President of Ukraine is scheduled to meet with senators of both parties during his visit.

The meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and the United States is expected to take place at approximately 6 p.m. Kyiv time. After that, in Zelenskyy and Trump's presence Ukraine and the US will sign a framework agreement on minerals.

Afterward, the American and Ukrainian leaders are expected to give a joint press briefing.

Zelenskyy will also give an interview to Fox News journalist Bret Baier during his visit to the United States. The interview will be broadcast during Fox News' Special Report at 6 p.m. local time (on Saturday night at 1 a.m. Kyiv time). The conversation will be devoted to “the meeting, efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and other news of the day.”

Bipartisan meeting with senators

According to CNN, US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who supports aid to Ukraine, plans to meet with Zelenskyy in Washington with senators from both parties: Republican and Democratic.

At the same time, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said he wanted to talk to Zelenskyy and hear his personal opinion on the framework agreement with the United States on rare earth minerals.

“I want to know from him (Zelenskyy - ed.) how he feels about this deal. It strikes me as extortionist, and I want to know from him whether he’s satisfied with the kind of security guarantees he has. I want my meeting with Zelenskyy to be bipartisan, so that my Republican colleagues can hear from him about how Ukraine’s security involves ours and how extortionate tactics from this administration are endangering our security,” Blumenthal said.

Another Democratic senator, Peter Welch, criticized the Trump administration's actions toward Ukraine while talking to journalists. He said that the document “doesn't provide any security assurance for Ukraine” and “Trump went to Putin.”

Republican Graham responded to Welch's criticism by saying that “Democrats shouldn't not even speak about Putin” because “they let him rape Ukraine.”

For his part, Republican Senator John Cornyn defended the rare minerals agreement but noted that he wanted to hear more about the US commitment to Ukraine's security as part of the negotiations.

“Once the United States basically owns some of those rare earth minerals in Ukraine, I suppose what that means is we will protect them and defend them against Russian aggression. All that has not yet been clarified, and I’m looking forward to hearing more,” he said.

CNN adds that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, said he had no plans to meet with Zelenskyy.

Meeting with Trump

Zelenskyy will also meet with Trump today. The Ukrainian president will become the third European leader to visit the White House this week, after French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

In recent weeks, the American president has been speaking harshly of his Ukrainian counterpart, calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” on his social media platform Truth Social and talking about Zelenskyy's “4% support.” But yesterday, during a meeting with Starmer, the head of the White House softened his position.

Journalists asked the US president if he still thought Zelenskyy was a “dictator.”

“Did I say that? I can't believe I said that,” Trump replied in surprise.

Trump expressed respect for his Ukrainian counterpart and praised the courage of Ukrainians.

“I think we’re going to have a very good meeting tomorrow morning. We’re going to get along really well. OK, we have a lot of respect. I have a lot of respect for him. We’ve given him a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure. They have really fought. Somebody has to use that equipment, and they have been very brave in that sense,” Trump said.

Another important aspect is that Zelenskyy will meet with Trump before Putin. The Ukrainian leader said earlier that he considered this a “good signal.”

Zelenskyy said that during his visit to Washington, he would talk to Trump about more than just the minerals deal. He emphasized that he wants to get an honest answer to whether Ukraine can count on US support, and this is the most important matter for him.

He also said that he wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets to purchase weapons and whether Trump plans to lift sanctions against Moscow.

Yesterday BFMTV, citing a French diplomatic source, reported that the White House had allegedly asked the Ukrainian leader not to come to the United States to meet with President Trump, but changed his mind after Paris intervened.

“Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Emmanuel Macron, who, in turn, contacted Donald Trump, asking him to receive his colleague and adding that he would vouch for him. In the end, Donald Trump agreed, announcing on Wednesday that he would host the Ukrainian leader in the White House,” the media said.

Signing an agreement with the US

During Zelenskyy's visit to Washington, a framework agreement on subsoil is expected to be signed between Ukraine and the United States. Both presidents will attend the signing ceremony.

The document from the Ukrainian side will be signed by First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko, or Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the main points of the agreement had already been approved and that the only thing left to do was to sign the document.

The Ukrainian government said that the document is titled “Agreement on the Establishment of the Terms and Conditions of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.” Among the most important things is that the agreement removed the priority options from the United States on their 100% ownership of the investment fund and the amount of 500 billion. The fund will be managed jointly by Ukraine and the United States. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, there are six key points in the agreement:

• Ukrainian subsoil and resources remain Ukrainian, they are not transferred to the ownership of the United States or anyone else.
• Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from its natural resource assets to the Fund.
• The United States will contribute to the Fund in the form of funds, financial instruments, and other assets that are critical to Ukraine's recovery.
• The funds collected by the Fund will be invested exclusively in Ukraine's recovery projects.
• The agreement takes into account Ukraine's commitments within the framework of the European integration process.

As the President of Ukraine said earlier, this is only a framework agreement with the United States, but the next one will be more complex and will require mandatory ratification by the Ukrainian parliament.

The new agreement, which Ukraine is discussing with the United States, should clarify the control issue and provide for expanded security guarantees, The Economist wrote.

Read more about what rare earth metals are, how the idea of the agreement came about, and what Trump was unhappy about in a separate RBC-Ukraine article.

Sources: CNN, FlightAware, Sky News, The Hill.