‘Very big deal’: Zelensky set to meet Trump after reaching agreement

Washington: The US and Ukraine have agreed on the terms of a critical minerals deal central to Kyiv’s push to win Washington’s support, as US President Donald Trump seeks to rapidly end the Ukraine war with Russia, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Trump told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to come to Washington later this week to sign the deal after the two leaders exchanged hostile words last week.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.Credit: Getty Images, AP

“I hear that he’s coming on Friday,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Certainly, it’s OK with me if he’d like to.”

“He would like to sign it together with me and I understand that’s a big deal, very big deal.”

Trump said the agreement “could be a trillion-dollar deal” comprised of “rare earths and other things”.

“The American taxpayer now is going to get their money back”, Trump said.

President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.Credit: AP

Asked what Ukraine received in return, Trump said: “$350 billion and lots of equipment and military equipment and the right to fight on.”

Trump cites $US350 billion as the value of US defence support and aid to Ukraine already committed by American taxpayers, although the total amount of expenditure approved by Congress is actually about $US183 billion, according to the US government’s Special Inspector General for Ukraine Oversight.

Trump also said there needed to be some form of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict was struck. Moscow has refused to accept any deployment of NATO troops.

Trump’s rush to impose an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine has stoked fears of far-reaching US concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin that could undermine security in Ukraine and Europe and alter the geopolitical landscape.

A woman cycles past with her dog as bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images

It was not immediately clear whether the agreement carries any specific US security guarantees that Ukraine had sought or if Washington has committed to sending additional military aid.

One of the sources familiar with the deal said future weapons shipments were still being discussed.

Vladimir Putin earlier said US companies could help mine rare earths in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

In an interview on Russian state television reported by The New York Times, Putin said Russia had an “order of magnitude” more rare earth metals than Ukraine and that Moscow was “ready to work with our foreign partners, including the Americans” to develop those deposits.

Trump last week said Zelensky needed to cut a quick peace deal or lose his country, while the Ukrainian leader said the US president was living in a “disinformation bubble”.

Earlier, dozens of countries rallied behind Ukraine at a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday (Swiss time), a day after the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution that took a neutral stance on the conflict, and the UK pledged to increase defence spending.

The UN event, held to commemorate “resistance to the Russian aggression”, followed the resolution adopted in New York on the war’s third anniversary that reflects Trump’s upending of US policy on Ukraine and his more conciliatory stance towards Russia.

Ukraine’s ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko speaks at the opening of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.Credit: AP

“You are not alone. Norway and other countries, all the countries who are here, but also other countries, will continue to support you as you fight for your territorial integrity, your sovereignty and your human dignity,” Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik told a packed room of ministers and diplomats.

Most countries attending the Geneva event were European, including France and Germany, but others, such as Turkey, South Korea, Australia, and Japan, were also present. Washington sent a delegate who did not take the floor.

Ukraine’s ambassador, Yevheniia Filipenko, who at one point became emotional while addressing the room, asked countries to continue their support for rebuilding Ukraine and seeking accountability for crimes committed since Russia’s invasion.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Kyiv on January 16.Credit: Getty Images

“The road ahead is very challenging, but when we are united, we can prevail,” she said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would increase annual defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2027 and aim for 3 per cent, a level last seen just after the Cold War, a signal to Trump that Britain can boost Europe’s security.

On the eve of his departure to meet Trump in Washington, Starmer told parliament he was bringing the increase in defence spending forward to offer Europe more support as the US spearheads peace talks with Russia.

With public spending already stretched in Britain, Starmer said the increase from its current 2.3 per cent would be fully paid for by a 40 per cent cut to international aid, an announcement he said he was not happy to make but one which was necessary to offer Ukraine and Europe support in a “new era”.

with Reuters, AP

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