By Olena Harmash, Tom Balmforth, Yuliia Dysa and Trevor Hunnicutt
KYIV/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Volodymyr Zelenskiy would visit Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals, while the Ukrainian leader said the success of the deal would hinge on those talks and continued U.S. aid.
Under the deal, which Ukraine’s prime minister has called “preliminary,” Kyiv would hand some revenue from its mineral resources to a fund jointly controlled by the U.S. The agreement is central to Ukrainian attempts to win strong support from Trump as he seeks a quick end to Russia’s war. U.S.-Russian talks that have so far excluded Kyiv were set to continue on Thursday.
Trump said Zelenskiy would sign the agreement on rare earths and other topics during his visit, but suggested Washington would not make far-reaching security guarantees.
Kyiv has been seeking U.S. security guarantees as part of the deal, cast by Trump as a payment for U.S. aid to Kyiv during the war. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond – very much. We’re going to have Europe do that,” Trump said, without elaborating.
Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said his talks with Trump would stress the importance obtaining security guarantees “to ensure that Russia no longer destroys the lives of other nations” and added that continued U.S. aid was vital.
“For me and for all of us in the world, it is important that American aid is not halted. Strength is needed on the path to peace,” he said.
Last week, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson said there was “no appetite” for another funding bill for Ukraine. Johnson’s comments came a day after Trump called Zelenskiy a “dictator” and warned he must move quickly to secure peace with Russia or risk losing his country.
On Wednesday, Zelenskiy said the most important thing was that the current draft agreement did not portray Ukraine as a debtor that would have to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars for past military assistance.
“This agreement could be part of future security guarantees… an agreement is an agreement, but we need to understand the broader vision,” he said.
“This deal could be a great success or it could pass quietly. And the big success depends on our conversation with President Trump.”
Zelenskiy said it would be a success if the U.S. provides security guarantees for Ukraine, which wants protection from future Russian attacks if a peace deal is reached.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. has sent $350 billion to Ukraine, without explaining the figure. Congress has approved $175 billion in assistance since Russia’s full-scale invasion began three years ago.
Fighting has continued during the flurry of diplomacy, with Ukraine frequently coming under attack from Russian missiles and drones in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.
QUESTIONS OVER WASHINGTON TRIP
Trump said on Tuesday that Zelenskiy wanted to come to Washington on Friday to sign a “very big deal.”
Trump has been fiercely critical of Zelenskiy as the U.S. president has upended Washington’s policy on the war and ended a campaign to isolate Russia.
Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 12 and a Russian-U.S. meeting took place in Saudi Arabia on February 18.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian and U.S. diplomats would meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss resolving bilateral disputes that are part of a wider dialogue the sides see as crucial to ending the Ukraine war.
Lavrov again ruled out “any options” for European peacekeepers being sent to Ukraine. Trump has said some form of peacekeeping troops are needed in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict is struck.
“Nobody has asked us about this,” Lavrov said during a visit to Qatar.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to meet Trump on Thursday and on Sunday will host leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Poland and other allies to discuss their response to Trump’s moves.
European leaders, including Starmer, held an emergency meeting in Paris this month where they were split on the idea of deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine.
‘PRELIMINARY’ AGREEMENT
A copy of a draft agreement, seen by Reuters and dated February 25, said: “The Government of the United States of America supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Washington would commit to supporting Kyiv’s efforts to obtain security guarantees under the finalised deal. The Americans offered no security pledges of their own.
Shmyhal said Ukraine was giving its approval to the agreed wording so it could be signed and described it as a “preliminary” agreement.
“After the Ukrainian president and the U.S. president agree on security guarantees, agree on how we tie this preliminary agreement to security guarantees from the United States for our country, in the presence of (both) presidents, a representative of the Ukrainian government will sign this preliminary agreement,” he said.
In a comment aimed at calming the fears of worried Ukrainians, Shmyhal said Ukraine would never “sign or consider … a colonial treaty that did not take into account the interests of the state.”
Shmyhal, outlining the agreement in televised comments, said Kyiv would contribute 50% of “all proceeds received from the future monetisation of all relevant state-owned natural resource assets and relevant infrastructure.”
Those proceeds would go into a fund under joint U.S.-Ukrainian control, he said, adding that no decision about the governance of the fund could be taken without Kyiv’s agreement.
“Already existing deposits, facilities, licenses and rents are not subject to discussion when creating this fund,” he added.
(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicut in Washington; writing by Timothy Heritage and David Brunnstrom; editing by Philippa Fletcher and David Gregorio)
