Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump confirmed media speculation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit the White House on 28 February.
The American head of state said he had “heard that he’s coming on Friday, which is fine with me”. Trump also expressed a willingness to sign an agreement on Ukrainian subsoil with his counterpart “if he wants to”.
“I understand that this is a big deal, maybe a trillion dollars, because we are talking about resources. We want to get our money back. Taxpayers will get it back,” the Republican added.
Trump said it could be a “trillion-dollar” deal or another amount.
“We are spending billions of dollars on a war between Russia and Ukraine. A war that would never have happened if I had been president,” he said.
When asked what Ukraine would receive, the American president replied: “$350 billion (he was probably referring to the amount he claimed Ukraine had already received. He wants Kyiv to provide data on aid worth $100 billion, not $350 billion), a lot of military equipment and the right to fight. Look, I said that Ukrainians are very brave and good soldiers, but without the US, its money and military equipment, this war would have ended in a very short period of time. And I would like to buy Russian minerals as well.”
According to media reports, Ukraine and the United States have agreed on the final version of an agreement to create a fund that will receive revenues from the monetisation of natural resources.
Agreement on mineral resources
- The US Treasury Secretary brought a draft of the minerals agreement to Ukraine. However, Ukraine refused to sign it, as it did not contain security guarantees - only a requirement to provide access to 50% of the resources specified in the agreement.
- In the second draft, the Americans included a clause on receiving $500 billion, even though, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US has provided Ukraine with $100 billion in total aid.
- Zelenskyy stated that he would not sign a document that was unfavourable to Ukraine and would burden future generations. The refusal to sign, combined with US-Russia negotiations conducted without Ukraine and European partners, significantly strained relations between Kyiv and Washington. As a result, Trump began pushing for elections and called Zelenskyy a dictator.
- Nevertheless, both sides continued working on the agreement.
- In general, allowing partners to extract minerals is one of the key points in the President’s Victory Plan. However, this issue gained momentum after Donald Trump took office and announced that he would seek to recover funds invested in Ukraine.