A Ukrainian government source tells Sky News that Kyiv has agreed the terms of a minerals deal with the US. Meanwhile, the Kremlin contradicts Donald Trump’s claims about European peacekeepers in Ukraine being accepted by Russia. Listen to the latest Daily podcast while you scroll.
Tuesday 25 February 2025 22:16, UK
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By David Blevins, Sky correspondent in Washington
Last Wednesday, the world took a sharp intake of breath when Donald Trump branded the Ukrainian president “a dictator”.
The new occupant of the White House went further, suggesting that Ukraine was somehow responsible for the Russian invasion.
Trump said he wanted a $500bn stake in Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as payback for war aid provided by America.
A new kind of politics – the businessman come president abandoning eight decades of US/European diplomacy for some real estate.
But six days later, Ukraine has agreed the terms of a deal granting the United State access to some of its rare minerals.
No one got everything they wanted, but each side got something, in a breakthrough that has come at breakneck speed.
The deal does not grant America $500bn worth of minerals but does establish a fund, committing 50% of profits from them to rebuilding Ukraine.
It does not provide Ukraine with the security guarantees it had sought but does give the United States an economic interest in the country.
In other words, it will now be in Trump’s interest to ensure Russia ends the war for good, ensuring no threat to his investment.
It has yet to be approved by the Ukrainian Parliament, where critics argue revenue-sharing disproportionately favours the US.
But a day after the French president’s visit to the White House and a day before Sir Keir Starmer arrives, America and Ukraine are allies once more.
His unconventional style – overtures to Moscow, the cold shoulder for Kyiv – made the White House feel like a parallel universe, but he got a result.
It’s politics Jim, but not as we know it, to misquote some lyrics from The Firm.
We’re now hearing from Donald Trump, who has been signing executive orders at the White House.
The US president told reporters Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “coming to visit on Friday” and said Ukraine’s president “would like to sign the minerals deal with me”.
“We have pretty much negotiated our deal on rare earths,” he added.
Speaking more generally on peace negotiations, Trump said peacekeeping troops will be needed for Ukraine in “some form”.
For context: As we reported earlier (see 9.51 post), the Kremlin has disputed Donald Trump’s claim last night that Russia had accepted the prospect of European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated the Russian position – that Moscow would not agree to this – despite the US president’s comments yesterday.
“There is a position on this matter that was expressed by foreign minister Lavrov. I have nothing to add to this. I will leave this without comment,” he said.
Last week, Lavrov said that “the deployment of troops… [from] NATO countries, but under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union or under national flags… is, of course, unacceptable to us.”
A minerals deal between the US and Ukraine has been agreed “in a very Trumpian way”, our US correspondent Mark Stone says.
Speaking on The World with Yalda Hakim, Stone points out it is less than a week since Donald Trump called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”.
“That was just such a moment, and yet now we’re in a position where Zelenskyy is due here on Friday… he will be here at the White House in the Oval Office meeting with the man who called him a dictator just a week ago,” Stone says.
He explains Trump entered negotiations “like a real estate deal with a massively inflated deal and slapped it on the table of the Ukrainians”.
Stone says that over the course of a few days, a better deal has been hammered out.
“While the public diplomacy appears to have fallen apart behind the scenes, the Ukrainians probably under some considerable pressure have caved but will feel that they have got themselves somewhat of a better deal,” he adds.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to travel to Washington on Friday to meet Donald Trump, according to a Ukrainian government source.
The source said that the date for the face-to-face meeting was proposed by the American side.
It comes after Sky News was told a Ukrainian government source that Ukraine had agreed terms with the US on a crucial minerals deal (see our 8.08pm post).
The deal sets out the terms to create a new fund to invest in Ukraine’s minerals, rare earth materials and other valuable natural resources.
It no longer contains an initial demand by the United States for a right to $500bn (£395bn) in potential revenue from the resources.
As a Ukrainian government source tells Sky News that Ukraine has agreed terms with the US on a crucial minerals deal – why does Donald Trump want Ukraine’s minerals?
Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine. It also has significant deposits of rare earth metals which are used to produce weapons, wind turbines and electronics.
In today’s episode of the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson talks to our economics and data editor Ed Conway about how valuable Ukraine’s mineral wealth could be for the US.
You can also follow the podcast here, so you never miss an episode.
By Azad Safarov, Ukraine producer
Ukraine has agreed terms with the United States on a crucial minerals deal, a Ukrainian government source has told Sky News.
There has been no confirmation from the US side yet.
The accord, once signed, could unlock a new long-term partnership between Kyiv and Donald Trump’s White House after weeks of increasingly tense exchanges.
The source said there was a plan for the document to be signed “very soon”.
This could even be during a face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart.
The deal sets out the terms to create a new fund to invest in Ukraine’s minerals, rare earth materials and other valuable natural resources.
It no longer contains an initial demand by the United States for a right to $500bn (£395bn) in potential revenue from the resources.
Zelenskyy had previously described such a high price as not being a “serious” conversation.
Trump, however, views the minerals transaction with Ukraine as a fair way to recoup the billions of dollars that the United States has given Kyiv – via weapons and financial support – to assist the armed forces in their fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion over the past three years.
The document also does not provide a commitment from Washington to give security guarantees to Ukraine in the wake of any ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin – something that Kyiv desperately needs and has been asking for.
More granular details about the new partnership are expected to be fleshed out in coming discussions.
The two sides have “agreed on a framework agreement on how to create a fund that will be filled with a share of minerals” and other natural resources, the government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“This is a political step to ensure that resource revenues are used for the security and reconstruction of Ukraine.”
The fund would comprise American money that would be invested in Ukrainian natural resources, with profits shared between Washington and Kyiv, it is understood.
The Financial Times first reported on the agreement being reached. It said the final version of the deal was dated 24 February.
“The minerals agreement is only part of the picture. We have heard multiple times from the US administration that it’s part of a bigger picture,” Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and justice minister who has led the negotiations, told the newspaper on Tuesday.
More detail to bring you on Donald Trump’s call with French President Emmanuel Macron this afternoon.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir Starmer told Macron he is “looking forward to travelling to the US this week”, and the pair “reflected on President Macron’s visit to Washington yesterday”.
“They agreed that President Trump’s leadership in working towards a durable peace in Ukraine was welcome,” the spokesperson continued.
“They both reiterated that Ukraine must be at the heart of any negotiations, and the UK and Europe are ready to play our part.
“The leaders looked forward to speaking again soon, after the prime minister returns from Washington DC.”
Starmer will travel to the White House for a meeting with Trump on Thursday, and will host a summit of European leaders at the weekend.
The UK’s announcement of a boost to defence spending “sets the ground well” for Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House on Thursday, our US correspondent Mark Stone has said.
Speaking to our lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge, Stone described the upcoming meeting as the most important between a UK prime minister and US president since the Second World War.
“The fact Starmer has been able to make this announcement… he effectively said it is because of the Trump presidency that we’ve accelerated the decision that we’ve come to,” Stone said.
He goes on to explain that Trump has essentially “exited NATO without leaving it”.
“He’s opened up so much doubt in everyone in Europe’s minds about whether or not America really had Europe’s back,” he added.
“He’s focused their minds, and the consequence is that they are now doing what they needed to do and beginning to spend a lot more.”
Karoline Leavitt is asked if she can assure reporters that the negotiation process for peace in Ukraine “will not be as one-sided as Europeans seem to think it is”.
A reporter points out that Trump has publicly demanded a number of concessions of Ukraine, but not spoken of any that Russia should make.
US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia for talks last week, with Europe and Ukraine demanding a seat at the table in future negotiations.
Leavitt claims Trump “knows how to make a deal better than anyone who has ever assumed the office of the American presidency”.
She states Trump has made “significant improvements” in ending the war, and says “he wants to see the bloodshed and the killing stopped”.
“This has been going on for far too long, the president inherited this mess because of the incompetence of the previous administration, and he is committed to fixing it,” she adds.
“He is wholeheartedly committed to striking a peace deal in Russia and Ukraine.”
Karoline Leavitt is now answering a question on the status of Donald Trump’s minerals deal with Ukraine.
Leavitt says there have been no “significant updates” on the deal since Trump spoke to the media yesterday, but she reiterates his position.
“It’s critical that this deal is signed, he expects Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign a deal,” she says.
“This is to recoup American tax dollars that have been funding Ukraine’s national defence, and it’s also great for the Ukrainian people who have been put through hell because of this war.
“It will create a lasting economic partnership as Ukraine will need to rebuild their country because of this brutal war.”
For context: Ukraine has been facing pressure from the Trump administration to sign a deal for access to its rare minerals.
Trump has said the US military and economic aid in Ukraine has amounted to around $500bn (£396bn), and in return, he wants the US to access Ukraine’s minerals of that value.
A Ukrainian source told Sky News that Zelenskyy is “not ready” to sign the US agreement due to a “number of problematic issues”, with a leaked draft claiming the US had asked for a 50% share of Ukraine’s rare minerals.
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