WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a long-sought minerals deal that will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.
Trump made the announcement at the start of the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, hailing the deal as “a very big agreement.”
The Republican president has long complained that the United States has spent too much taxpayer money to support Ukraine in the war with Russia that began when the Kremlin invaded three years ago. Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's deposits of so-called rare earth minerals — used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries — as a chance for Kyiv to pay back the U.S. for aid already sent for the war effort under Democratic President Joe Biden.
“The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get the money back and and a lot of money in the future,” Trump said.
Zelenskyy said a news conference early Wednesday in Kyiv that a framework of an economic deal had been reached, but that it did not yet include U.S. security guarantees, which his country sees as vital. The full agreement could hinge on the upcoming talks in Washington.
The framework is a preliminary step toward a comprehensive package that will be subject to ratification by the Ukrainian parliament, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine needs to know first where the U.S. stands on its continued military support, Zelenskyy said. He said he expected a wide-ranging conversation with Trump.
The economic agreement "may be part of future security guarantees, but I want to understand the broader vision. What awaits Ukraine?” Zelensky said.
But Trump, in announcing the meeting, was noncommittal about any coming American security guarantees.
“I’m not going to make security guarantees ... very much,” Trump said. "We're going to have Europe do that."
He said a U.S. presence working on mineral extraction would amount to "automatic security because nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there."
“It’s a great deal for Ukraine too, because they get us over there and we’re going to be working over there,” Trump said. “We will be on the land.”
Trump also said Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, the Western military alliance, and he hopes to soon speak face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin about reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that began when Moscow invaded in February 2022.
The Republican president declined to detail what concessions he would ask the two sides to make, but he underscored his administration’s position that Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO, the Western military alliance, is not tenable.
“NATO, you can forget about it,” Trump said. “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”
Since returning to office last month, Trump let Ukraine know that he wanted something in return for tens of billions of dollars in U.S. help for Ukraine. The White House has applied heavy pressure on Ukraine to grant American access to its vast reserves of the minerals.
Zelenskyy balked at initial U.S. offers, arguing they did not contain adequate security assurances for Ukraine and that the proposed price tag of $500 billion would saddle generations of Ukrainians with debt. But Kyiv is also keen to use the investments as a way of locking the U.S. into Ukraine's fate.
The latest version of the agreement, seen by The Associated Press, says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.” It does not spell out any U.S. commitment to provide them.
“Participants will seek to identify any necessary steps to protect mutual investments as defined in the ... agreement,” it says.
After Zelenskyy spoke, a White House official made clear that accepting the agreement would be a precondition of Trump’s invitation to meet Friday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the invitation.
“This agreement may either be a great success or quietly fade away," Zelenskyy said. "And I believe success depends on our conversation with President Trump.”
“I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump has abruptly ditched some previous Washington policies. He scrapped efforts to isolate Putin and cast doubt on U.S. support for its European allies. That has brought momentous geopolitical shifts that could reset the war's path this year.
Diplomats from Russia and the U.S. will meet Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said he wants to discuss with Trump whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for the purchase of weapons and investments and whether Washington plans to lift sanctions on Russia.
The preliminary economic agreement also sets out the terms and conditions of an investment fund for the rebuilding of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
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Arhirova and Spike reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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