Trump announces meeting with Zelenskyy to sign mineral resources agreement this week or next week
US President Donald Trump has said he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign an agreement on rare earth resources this week or next week.
This is reported by Reuters, Censor.NET reports.
Trump said this before his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House,
"I will meet with President Zelenskyy. He may come this week or next week to sign the mineral resources agreement," the US leader said.
According to Trump, a mineral resources agreement is currently being worked on and the US and Ukraine are "very close to a final agreement".
"A deal is being worked on, and I think we are very close to having a deal where we get our money back over a period of time... We are counting on $350 billion... and we had nothing to brag about. It was the Biden administration's fault," Trump said.
He also noted that he does not see a problem with European troops being sent to Ukraine on a peacekeeping mission.
Minerals agreement with the US
As a reminder, Trump has said he wants to strike a $500 million deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on access to rare earth resources and natural gas in Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees in any potential peace settlement.
President Zelenskyy said that the agreement with the US on minerals would be signed at the ministerial level when ready and subject to guarantees. Currently, this document is not ready to protect Ukraine's interests.
Later, Trump said that Ukraine had disrupted the deal on rare earth metals. The agreement was needed so that the US could recover the money spent on supporting Ukraine.
Later, it was reported that the Trump administration had given Ukraine an "improved" draft of the minerals agreement that "complies with Ukrainian law".
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that if the United States wants to see specific figures in the minerals agreement, then according to Ukrainian law, ratification by the Verkhovna Rada will be necessary.
