Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US- official

KYIV — Ukraine has agreed on the terms of a minerals deal with the United States and could sign it on Friday, a Ukrainian official said, in a move Kyiv hopes will lay the ground for future security guarantees from Washington.

US President Donald Trump had demanded that Ukraine give access to its rare earth minerals to compensate for the billions of dollars of wartime aid it received under Joe Biden.

The deal would see the United States jointly develop Ukraine's mineral wealth, with revenues going to a newly created fund that would be "joint for Ukraine and America", a senior Ukrainian source told AFP on the condition of anonymity late Tuesday.

The source said the draft of the deal included a reference to "security", but did not explicitly set out the United States's commitments, one of Kyiv's prior demands for an agreement.

"There is a general clause that says America will invest in a stable and prosperous sovereign Ukraine, that it works for a lasting peace, and that America supports efforts to guarantee security."

"Now government officials are working on the details," the source said, adding that President Volodymyr Zelensky could sign it on a trip to Washington as early as Friday.

Trump has upended US foreign policy since taking office last month, opening dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin while making threats against Washington's traditional allies.

The United States sided with Russia twice Monday at the United Nations, as they sought to avoid any condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its neighbour three years ago.

Relations with Trump 

Ukraine hopes the minerals deal will improve relations with the Trump administration, which have soured amid a war of words between Zelensky and Trump.

Last week, the Republican branded his Ukrainian counterpart a "dictator" and called for him to "move fast" to end the war, a day after Russian and US officials held talks in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv.

Then on Saturday, at a high-profile conservative conference, Trump said he was trying to get "money back" for the billions of dollars of aid sent to support Ukraine in the war with Russia.

Zelensky had earlier accused Trump of living in a Russian "disinformation space".

Trump had previously asked for "$500 billion worth" of rare earth minerals to make up for aid given to Kyiv -- a price tag Ukraine had balked at and which does not correspond with published US aid figures.

The source said Washington had cut this clause, as well as others that were unfavourable to Ukraine.

"They removed all the clauses that did not suit us," the source said.

The United States has given Ukraine more than $60 billion in military aid since Russia's invasion, according to official figures,  the largest such contribution among Kyiv's allies, but substantially lower than Trump's $500 billion figure.