Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to sign a minerals deal as Kyiv seeks to regain American support in the Russia-Ukraine war.
It is the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump re-took office in January.
Trump and Zelenskyy have clashed over broader efforts to settle the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Trump has changed Washington’s approach to the conflict since taking office last month, shifting from the previous administration’s stance of not engaging with the Kremlin to opening peace talks with Moscow.
Trump has said he wants to quickly wind down the war, improve relations with Russia, and recoup U.S. money spent on supporting Ukraine.
Under former President Joe Biden’s leadership, the United States supplied more than $174 billion in Ukraine-related aid and vocal backing on the world stage.
Under the previous administration, Zelenskyy received billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weaponry and vocal backing on the world stage.
Trump has since urged Europe to take a more active role in supporting Ukraine and spend more of its own money on national defense rather than relying on U.S. support.
Trump has also urged Europe to spend more of its own money on national defense rather than relying on U.S. support.
The minerals agreement negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the United States but does not include U.S. security guarantees.
Under the agreement Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to sign, Ukraine would contribute 50 percent of “all revenues earned from the future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets” to a reconstruction fund jointly owned and managed by the United States and Ukraine.
The agreement does not specify how the funds would be spent, or identify specific assets it covers, though it says they would include deposits of minerals, oil, and natural gas as well as infrastructure such as gas terminals and ports.
A more detailed agreement on the setting up of the fund will be drawn up once the preliminary one has been inked.
In recent weeks, Trump has criticized Zelenskyy’s handling of the war, calling him a dictator and urging him to agree to the minerals deal.
Asked about the dictator remark, during a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, Trump said: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”
Trump also noted he was looking forward to meeting Zelenskyy and praised the Ukrainian military for its bravery.
“We’re working very hard to get that war brought to an end. I think we’ve made a lot of progress, and I think it’s moving along pretty rapidly,” Trump said. “It'll either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all.”
Trump has also stated this week that he expects Zelenskyy will have to make concessions to Russia, as part of the final deal to bring an end to the fighting between the two countries.
When asked what concessions Ukraine would likely have to make, Trump said: “I don’t want to tell you right now, but I can tell you that NATO you can forget about. That’s been, I think—that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”
Moscow has always regarded Ukrainian membership of the NATO alliance as an unacceptable threat.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he hoped to discuss whether the U.S. plans to halt its military aid to Ukraine and, if so, whether Kyiv would be permitted to directly purchase U.S. weapons.
He also wants to know whether Ukraine will be allowed to use frozen Russian assets to buy weapons and whether Washington plans to lift the sanctions currently in place on Moscow.
If a truce can be reached between Moscow and Kyiv, Britain and France have agreed to send troops for a potential peacekeeping mission to ensure that violence does not flare up again.
During his meeting with Starmer, Trump commented on British troops, saying that if they were deployed to Ukraine, they wouldn’t need U.S. military support.
“They don’t need much help. They can take care of themselves very well,” Trump said. “The British have been incredible soldiers, incredible military, and they can take care of themselves. But if they need help, I’ll always be with the British, OK? I’ll always be with them, but they don’t need help.”
