KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine and the U.S. have reached an agreement on a framework for a broad economic deal that would include the exploitation of rare earth minerals, three senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.
The officials, who were familiar with the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. One of them said that Kyiv hopes that signing the agreement will ensure the continued flow of U.S. military support that Ukraine urgently needs.
The agreement could be signed as early as Friday, and plans are underway for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to travel to Washington to meet President Trump, according to one of the Ukrainian officials.
Another official said the agreement would provide an opportunity for Zelensky and Trump to discuss continued military aid to Ukraine, which is why Kyiv is eager to finalize the deal.
Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he’d heard that Zelensky was coming and added that “it’s OK with me, if he’d like to, and he would like to sign it together with me.”
Trump called it “a very big deal,” adding that the agreement could be worth a trillion dollars. “It could be whatever, but it’s rare earths and other things,” he said.
According to one Ukrainian official, some technical details are still to be worked out. However, the draft does not include a contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv.
Instead, the U.S. and Ukraine would have joint ownership of a fund, and Ukraine would contribute 50% of future proceeds from state-owned resources, including minerals, oil and gas. One official said the deal had better terms of investments, and another said that Kyiv secured favorable amendments and viewed the outcome as “positive.”
The deal does not, however, include security guarantees for Ukraine. One official said this would be something the two presidents would discuss when they meet.
The progress in negotiating the deal comes after Trump and Zelensky traded sharp comments last week about their differences over the matter.
Zelensky said he balked at signing off on a deal that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed during a visit to Kyiv this month, and the Ukrainian leader objected again days later during a meeting in Munich, Germany, with Vice President JD Vance because the American proposal did not include security guarantees.
But the two sides made significant progress during a three-day visit to Ukraine last week by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.
The idea was initially proposed in the fall by Zelensky as part of his plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.
Blann, Arhirova and Stepanenko write for the Associated Press.