WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday to sign an agreement on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources.
The development comes a week after Trump alarmed allies by calling Zelensky a “dictator without elections” after Ukraine’s initial rejection of the deal.
Trump has said that the mineral deal is necessary for Washington to compensate the billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in military and other aid.
Zelensky is seeking US security guarantees as part of any deal but Trump has so far refused to give any commitments.
The Ukrainian President 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.
Two weeks ago, Trump upended years of US policy on Ukraine by holding a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing the possibility of ending the three-year conflict without involving Kyiv.
But Trump’s tone has softened in recent days after visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said of Zelensky on Thursday. “We’re going to get along really well.”
The deal would give the United States a share in much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth. “We’ll be dig, dig, digging” for Ukraine’s resources, Trump told reporters Thursday.
Few details of the minerals deal have emerged. Zelensky told reporters this week that it would act as a framework for broader deals.
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Further discussions between US and Ukrainian officials would determine the nature of security guarantees for Ukraine and the exact sums of money at stake in the accord, he said.
Britain and France have both offered peacekeepers in the event of a deal to end the Ukraine war but say there must be a US “backstop” — including American intelligence and possibly air power.
The deal is central to Ukrainian attempts to ensure strong support from Trump as he seeks a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
