Zelensky to meet Trump in Washington to sign the mineral agreement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet on Friday to US President Donald Trump in Washington to sign an agreement on how to share the mineral resources of his country, Trump said.

Zelensky has described the bilateral agreement as preliminary, and said he wants other agreements that include security guarantees of the United States to deter Russian aggression.

But Trump said the United States would not provide guarantees “beyond … a lot”, saying that responsibility should fall to Europe.

Trump also ruled out the possibility that Ukraine became a member of NATO, one of Zelensky’s long data ambitions.

Speaking at a meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday, Trump said that the presence of US workers who extract rare earth metals on Ukrainian soil would provide “automatic security” for Ukraine.

He said that kyiv should “forget” to join NATO and repeat Russia’s claims that the problem was one of the driver behind the war.

The president of the United States suggested that a stop the fire between Ukraine and Russia was not far away, telling journalists: “We are going to make an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to stop killing people.”

But Zelensky said without security guarantees “we will not have a stop the fire, nothing will work, nothing.”

“I want to find an NATO path or something similar,” he said.

Russia has constantly opposed the idea that Ukraine becomes a member, fearing that he will bring NATO forces too close to their borders.

In 2008, the alliance had said that Ukraine could finally join.

Zelensky said that the success of the Mineral Agreement, which was formally supported by his government on Wednesday night, would depend on the result of his meeting with Trump this week.

The key details have not yet been made public, but Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he foresees an “investment fund” for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The possibility of an agreement was first proposed by Zelensky last year as a way of offering the US. Uu. A tangible reason to continue supporting Ukraine.

But disagreements about their substance exacerbated tensions between Trump and Zelensky in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian President had rejected an initial request from the USA for $ 500 billion (£ 395 billion) in mineral wealth, but the media reports suggest that this demand has now been eliminated.

There are also differences in how both sides are now describing the treatment. Trump has praised the “very great agreement” as an opportunity for the United States to recover his “money” after financing aid to Ukraine.

But Zelensky has referred to him as a “frame agreement” on which he hopes that more agreements can be made.

Trump has said that he wants a rapid end for war in Ukraine and that he has tried to restore relations with Russia. After a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two leaders sent delegations to Saudi Arabia in bilateral conversations that excluded Ukraine.

In response, Zelensky accused the United States of helping Putin “leave years of isolation” and Trump to live in a “Russian misinformation space.”

Ukraine is a country rich in natural resources. Kyiv estimates that approximately 5% of the “critical raw materials” in the world are there. But accessing some of these resources will not be completely simple.

Some of the mineral deposits have been seized by Russia. According to Yulia Svydenko, Minister of Economy of Ukraine, resources worth $ 350 billion (£ 277 billion) remain in occupied territories today.

There are also warnings that Ukraine first needs to address your problem with unplug mines before reaching an agreement with the United States.

It is estimated that a quarter of the land mass of Ukraine is contaminated with land mines, mainly concentrated in the east of the country torn by war.

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will also meet with Trump and Zelensky separately this week to discuss war in Ukraine.

You must get to Washington later on Wednesday.