Trump says Zelenskyy will visit the White House Friday to sign U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal

Trump announces Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's White House visit to sign minerals deal, shaping future U.S.-Ukraine relations.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday (February 26, 2025) that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday (February 28, 2025) to sign a long-sought minerals deal that will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

Mr. Trump made the announcement at 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. Mr. Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the U.S. access to so-called rare earth deposits in Ukraine 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,” Mr. Trump said.

Also Read | Zelenskyy says framework economic deal with U.S. is ready but security guarantees undecided

Mr. Zelenskyy said a news conference early Wednesday (February 26, 2025) 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, Mr. Zelenskyy said.