US hands Ukraine ‘improved’ minerals deal – Axios
21 February 17:33
The administration of US President Donald Trump has handed Ukraine an “improved” draft agreement on minerals.
Axios writes about this with reference to sources, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
Sources from both the Ukrainian and American sides say that the agreement now looks more realistic. According to their information, several aides to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy encouraged him to sign the updated proposal to avoid further exalting relations with Trump and allow him to find “justification” for potential new aid to Kyiv.
Before that, Donald Trump said he wanted to renew the rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine after Kyiv refused to sign the first version. This “disappointed” the White House.
Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on rare earth metals, but Kyiv needs security guarantees, which were not there.
In addition, representatives of Kyiv and Washington plan to establish transatlantic relations and reach an agreement on the minerals deal within a week, Bloomberg reports , citing sources.
Ukrainian officials continue to discuss resources with U.S. Special Representative Keith Kellogg, who is visiting Kyiv, the agency reports. Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly said that the meeting with him “restored hope.”
According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, the parties want to overcome differences after US President Donald Trump’s recent statements against Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Bloomberg’s source notes that it would be “ideal” to sign the document in the presence of the presidents of the United States and Ukraine. At the same time, Zelenskyy, according to the interlocutors, insisted on meeting with Trump before the American leader meets with Putin.
On February 9, Trump said that he had a specific plan to end the war and wanted to conclude a $500 billion deal with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on access to rare earth minerals and gas in Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees in a potential peace agreement.
The draft agreement was brought to Ukraine by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Zelenskyy said that Kyiv was open to partnership in this matter, but he did not sign the agreement because it did not provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
“The document was clear in only one thing – we have to give 50% of everything listed there. By the way, we are not afraid of this, and I am ready for this document to be made public. I told the US Treasury Secretary that this document is not ready. Everything that is written there is beyond my capabilities, beyond my authority, beyond the Constitution of Ukraine and all legislation,” the president said.
Zelensky later said that the war cost Ukraine $320 billion. Of this, $120 billion was paid by Ukrainian taxpayers, $200 billion by the US and the EU. All these are arms packages.
US President Donald Trump, after the US and Russian delegations held their first talks in Saudi Arabia without the participation of Ukrainians and Europeans, claimed that Zelenskyy had only a 4% approval rating. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published a study showing that as of the first half of February 2025, 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskyy.
The President of Ukraine reacted and said that Trump was in a “circle of disinformation.”
Subsequently, Donald Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” who allegedly persuaded the United States to “spend $350 billion on a war that cannot be won and should never have started.” Trump said that “Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his country is destroyed” and he is running out of time.
