Ukraine, US closer to deal to give America access to minerals - officials

(AP) - Ukraine and the United States have agreed on a framework for a broad economic deal that would include access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, three senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

The officials, who were familiar with the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly. One of them said that Ukraine hopes that signing the agreement will ensure the continued flow of US military support that Ukraine urgently needs.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The agreement could be signed as early as Friday and plans are being drawn up for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to travel to Washington to meet Trump, according to one of the Ukrainian officials.

Another official said the agreement would provide an opportunity for Zelenskyy and Trump to discuss continued military aid to Ukraine, which is why Ukraine is eager to finalise the deal.

According to one official, some technical details are still to be worked out. However, the draft does not include a contentious Trump administration proposal to give the America US$500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to the European country.

Instead, the US and Ukraine would have joint ownership of a fund, and Ukraine would in the future contribute 50 percent of future proceeds from state-owned resources, including minerals, oil, and gas. One official said the deal had better terms of investments and another one said that Ukraine secured favorable amendments and viewed the outcome as “positive.”

The deal does not, however, include security guarantees. One official said that this would be something the two presidents would discuss when they meet.

The progress in negotiating the deal comes after Trump and Zelenskyy traded sharp rhetoric last week about their differences over the matter.

Zelenskyy said he balked at signing off on a deal that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed during a visit to Kyiv earlier this month, and the Ukrainian leader objected again days later during a meeting in Munich with US Vice President JD Vance because the American proposal did not include security guarantees.

But the two sides made significant progress during a three-day visit to Ukraine last week by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

The idea was initially proposed last fall by Zelenskyy as part of his plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.

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