Trump and Zelenskyy to Sign Natural Resources Agreement in Washington

President Donald Trump has confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington on February 28 to sign an agreement on natural resources, Orda reports. 

The announcement came during the first meeting of Trump's Cabinet of Ministers.

 We’re doing very well with Russia-Ukraine.  President Zelenskyy is going to be coming on Friday.  It’s now confirmed.  And we’re going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement.  And I want to thank Howard and Scott for the job you guys did in putting it together.  Really did an amazing job.  And that’ll be on rare earth and other things. 
 Trump said.

Details of the Agreement

According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine and the United States have agreed on the finalized version of the mineral agreement. 

Ukrainian media has published a preliminary text of the "Bilateral Agreement on the Establishment of Rules and Conditions of the Investment Recovery Fund," which includes 11 points.

Key provisions include:

• Establishment of a "common ownership" recovery investment fund between the U.S. and Ukrainian governments
• Ukraine's contribution of 50% of all proceeds from future monetization of natural resource assets
• U.S. commitment to maintain "long-term financial commitments" for Ukraine's economic development
• The agreement does not require ratification by Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada
• Must be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers

Security Guarantees in Question?

While Shmyhal stated that the agreement is directly related to security guarantees for Ukraine, Trump has announced his own interpretation: 

Well, I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much.  We’re going to have Europe do that, because it’s in — you know, we’re talking about Europe is their next-door neighbor.  But we’re going to make sure everything goes well. 

Trump added, "Putin would have to make concessions in the negotiations," reiterating that NATO membership for Ukraine was out of the question:

But for Ukraine, we’re going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much back as possible.  We want to get as much back as possible.

Zelenskyy Rejects Debt Characterization

During a recent briefing, President Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine would not pay "even 10 cents" as debt to the United States under the minerals agreement.

He stressed that all money Washington provided to Kyiv was given as grants, not loans.

The main thing for me was that we are not debtors; the agreement does not include $500 billion in debt, nor $350 billion, nor $100 billion. That would be unfair to us, Zelenskyy stated.

Meanwhile, Russia has reportedly proposed a deal to the United States regarding rare earth metals located in occupied Ukrainian territories.

According to sources cited by NBC News, this offer was made during Russian-American negotiations on February 18 in Riyadh, suggesting American access to mineral resources in occupied parts of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The Trump administration reportedly did not accept this deal but has not ruled out the possibility of a future agreement. 

On February 24, Trump stated that Russia has resources, including rare earth metals, that interest Washington.

Soon after, Vladimir Putin held a meeting on extracting and processing rare earth metals, later indicating Russia's willingness to involve foreign partners, including the United States, in their development.