KYIV — Ukraine insists its minerals deal with the United States is only an initial step and its success will depend on whether U.S. President Donald Trump ultimately moves to a far broader arrangement that includes security guarantees.
Trump is now set to sign a deal on U.S. access to critical raw materials on Friday, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Washington.
Trump casts the minerals pact as a way to force Kyiv to repay America for the aid it has received since Russian dictator Vladimir Putin invaded in February 2022.
Ukraine, by contrast, argues the “framework” deal will not pay back previous U.S. aid, but could prove to be a significant first step toward locking in security guarantees for Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said the preliminary deal was light on real financial obligations and geological detail. This economic cooperation would have to ironed out in a later treaty requiring parliamentary approval, and would be part of a bigger package including provisions on security, he added.
“This is a beginning. A framework deal. It can have great success, or just pass along. The success will depend on our talk with President Trump, if I understand the broader picture that he sees, if I understand this is all a part of broader security guarantees for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy explained.
France and other European allies are also pushing Washington to commit to security guarantees. France and Britain have suggested their troops could act as peacekeepers, but are seeking commitments from Trump that he will offer a military “backstop.”
Trump, however, is vague on any such commitments and suggested the Europeans would not need “much backing” from the U.S. as he was assured that Putin wanted peace.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to be in Washington on Thursday to continue the discussions.
Speaking ahead of his Washington trip, Zelenskyy said he would seek to clarify whether Trump would continue to arm Ukraine after signing the framework deal, something the U.S. president hinted at on Tuesday.
“I will understand everything after I talk to Trump. For me, the most important thing is to find out will the U.S. stop military aid or not,” he said. “If its stops, will we be able to buy weapons directly from the U.S., maybe using Russian frozen assets?”
More generally, Zelenskyy explained the deal should not be seen as Trump winning a big debt clawback as it would focus only on a series of joint future projects for future payments. Trump’s multibillion-dollar demands had been dropped from the latest draft and Zelenskyy said he was only prepared to discuss future arms payments to the U.S., not past ones.
“The current version looks not bad. All the principal issues we had with it are gone. The main thing is that we’re no longer debtors. We don’t owe $500 billion, or $300 billion, or even $100 billion. And this was the key for me as if we agreed to that, this would open Pandora’s box,” he said.
The idea behind the framework deal is that Ukraine and the U.S. will co-own an investment fund with a 50/50 contribution, working on resource projects in Ukraine, with the proceeds being funneled back into rebuilding the country.
Even though it is only a preliminary deal, some European countries are hoping this level of involvement will encourage Trump to step up in terms of defending Ukraine.
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