Trump, Zelenskiy to sign minerals deal at White House meeting

28/2/2025 17:37

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and sign a critical minerals deal on Friday as Kyiv works to regain U.S. support to fight off the Russian invasion as Washington reverses its punitive policy towards Moscow.



Zelenskiy is facing a sharply different attitude from Trump. The Republican president has said he wants to quickly wind down the three-year war, improve relations with Moscow and recoup U.S. money spent to support Ukraine.



Trump has also adopted a much less committed stance toward European security, to which the U.S. has been an indispensable partner since World War Two.

The change in tone from the United States, Ukraine's most important backer, has sent shockwaves across Europe and stoked fears that Kyiv could be forced into a peace deal that favors Russia.



The minerals agreement negotiated in recent days would open up Ukraine's vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include American security guarantees, a disappointment for Ukraine.



It gives Washington the right to recoup some of the billions of dollars in costs of the U.S. weaponry supplied to Kyiv through a reconstruction investment fund tied to the sale of Ukraine's rare earth minerals.