KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he hopes to visit Washington on Friday to finalise a minerals deal with the United States and discuss future aid with President Donald Trump.
Trump has demanded Ukraine give access to its rare earth minerals to compensate for the billions of dollars of wartime aid it received under Joe Biden.
A senior Ukrainian official, cited by AFP, said late on Tuesday that Kyiv had agreed on the terms of the deal, which would see the United States jointly develop Ukraine’s mineral resources, and that Zelensky could sign it on Friday in Washington.
“I would like to have this visit very much,” Zelensky told reporters on Wednesday.
“This is just a start, a framework, it can be a big success. The success will depend on our conversation with President Trump,” he added.
Zelensky said that revenues from the resources deal would be deposited in a fund co-owned by Ukraine and the United States, and that Kyiv would not be “a debtor” over aid provided under the Biden administration.
“This would be unfair to us,” Zelensky said.
He also said he would ask Trump whether Washington would halt aid altogether, and if so, whether Ukraine could still buy weapons from the United States.
Ukraine hopes the deal will improve relations with the Trump administration, which have soured in a war of words between Trump and Zelensky.
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Kyiv also wants security guarantees, though the current draft of the deal does not place any specific security commitments on the United States, a senior Ukrainian official said as cited by AFP.
A White House official has raised doubts about whether an invitation to Zelensky to meet Trump would make sense given the Ukrainian President’s comments that a minerals deal is not complete.
“If the Ukrainian leader says the deal isn’t finalised, I don’t see why an invitation would make sense,” the official said as quoted by Reuters.
“There’s an expectation that his coming is to recognise a final position (on the minerals deal) and he is not at a final position in his own words in this new wording.”
Zelensky said that he had reached a “preliminary” deal with the US on minerals.
Trump yesterday told reporters he had heard Zelensky was coming to the White House on Friday with the expectation that the minerals deal would be signed.
The deal is central to Ukrainian attempts to ensure strong support from Trump as he seeks a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
