WASHINGTON (Reuters)-Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with US President Donald Trump on Friday to seal an agreement for US participation in the Ukrainian mineral sector as Kiev seeks to recover US support in the fight against Russia’s invasion.
Zelensky, who has received billions of dollars in US armaments and moral support from Joe Biden’s government, is facing a clearly different attitude from Trump, who says he wants to quickly end the three -year war, and recover billions spent in support of Ukraine.
Trump has also adopted a much less committed posture to Europe’s security, a tone that has caused shock throughout the continent and fostered fears in Kiev and among its allies that Ukraine can be forced to a peace agreement that favors Russia.
The negotiated in recent days would open Ukraine’s vast mineral richness to the US, but do not include explicit safety guarantees for Ukraine, which is a disappointment for Kiev. Trump says the presence of Americans in the mineral sector would serve as a form of guarantee.
The amount the deal would have for the US was not explained. Trump said he hopes to earn hundreds of billions of dollars. Zelenskiy said he would not sign an agreement that would put his country out of generations.
Ukraine would contribute 50% of “all revenues obtained with the future monetization of all relevant natural resources assets owned by the Ukrainian government” to a joint administration reconstruction fund with the US.
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The agreement does not specify how funds would be spent, nor identify the specific assets it covers, although it says they would include minerals, oil and natural gas deposits, as well as infrastructure, such as gas terminals and ports.
Conversations in Washington are a diplomatic impetus for Zelenskiy, who has repeatedly talked about the importance of meeting Trump personally before US president talks to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Ukrainians have been very skilled at going around and using it (the mineral agreement) as an opening to involve the US,” a European diplomat in Kiev, who called for anonymity to discuss delicate issues.
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Kiev expects the deal to encourage Trump to support Ukraine’s war effort and potentially even gain the support of republican parliamentarians for a new round of help.
Ukraine has rapidly expanded the production of its defense sector, but remains strongly dependent on foreign military assistance, while struggling to replace labor while facing a much larger enemy.
Although Ukraine has repelled the Russian invasion around Kiev and regained much of the territory in 2022, Russia still controls about 20% of Ukraine and has been slowly gaining ground since a failed Ukrainian counterofpensive by 2023.
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Kiev’s troops maintain a piece of land in the Kursk region in western Russia after a 2024 raid.
