Trump says Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to sign ‘very big’ deal on rare earths

According to US President Donald Trump, the two countries have come to terms on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and other natural resources.

Trump confirmed earlier rumors that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had reached an agreement to develop his nation’s natural resources at his White House address on Tuesday.

“I hear that he is coming on Friday. Certainly, it’s OK with me if he would like to. And he would like to sign it together with me, and I understand that’s a big deal, a very big deal”, Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.

Trump claimed the agreement would “get their money back” and could be worth “1 trillion” plus.

“We’re investing hundreds of billions of dollars in a conflict that shouldn’t have occurred,” according to the statement.

When asked what Kyiv would receive in return, Trump cited “military equipment and the right to fight on” as examples of the $350 billion in aid he has already received.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the US Congress authorized $ 174 billion to Ukraine between 2022 and 2024.

Following Zelenskyy’s earlier opposition to a previous draft that would have reneged on the rights to $500 billion in natural resources, Trump made his remarks in response to media reports that the US and Ukraine had reached an agreement.

In the midst of unrest over his decision to exclude Kyiv from discussions with Moscow to end the war, Ukraine is now attempting to repair relations with the Trump administration.

In Kyiv and other European cities, Trump’s remark to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his verbal attacks on Zelenskyy have sparked concern that he is more interested in putting an end to the conflict quickly in favor of Moscow.

Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” last week over his decision to postpone elections following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and accused the Ukrainian leader of putting pressure on himself to carry out the “gravy train” of US aid.

According to Charles Stratford, a reporter from Kyiv, Ukrainian officials believe Zelenskyy’s cabinet will suggest that he sign the deal with Trump on Wednesday.

“This is hugely significant, because certainly, according to the Ukrainians, we’ve been speaking to all week, this]deal] is seen as a means for Donald Trump to basically get what he wants”, Stratford said.

Zelenskyy initially opposed the agreement because it “didn’t have enough security guarantees,” according to Stratford, but Trump has put “significant additional pressure” on him since.

Numerous media outlets reported that Ukraine would contribute 50% of the proceeds from the future financialization of its resources to a jointly owned fund, which would invest in projects in Ukraine, despite the unconfirmed terms of the agreement.

Apparently, the draft text doesn’t list any specific security guarantees for the US.

The Financial Times, which first reported on the deal, said the size of Washington’s stake in the fund had yet to be determined.

According to Matthew Sussex, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University’s Strategic &amp, Defence Studies Centre, the agreement will allow Washington and Kyiv to “reset after the recent war of words.”

“The US’s demands have significantly decreased,” I understand. That makes it more palatable to Kyiv, even though there is no security guarantee attached: essentially Ukraine gets nothing, but doesn’t have to give much either”, Sussex told Al Jazeera.

Ukraine is believed to hold about 5 percent of the world’s reserves of rare earths, according to UN data.

Source: Aljazeera