Ukraine has agreed to turn over the revenue from some of its mineral resources to the US, an American and a Ukrainian official said on Tuesday, in a deal that follows an intense pressure campaign from President Trump that included insults and threats.
The final terms of the deal were unknown, and it was not immediately clear what, if anything, Ukraine would receive in the end after days of difficult, sometimes tense negotiations. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had repeatedly pressed for security guarantees for his country in exchange for mineral rights, as Russia’s war has entered its fourth year.
Previous draft agreements reviewed by The New York Times included no such security commitment. Trump had insisted he wanted “payback” for past military aid to Kyiv, shifting America’s alliance with Ukraine to a nakedly mercantile footing.
A final translated draft of the agreement was sent to Ukraine on Tuesday, according to the American official. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and his Ukrainian counterpart, the American official said, are expected to sign the agreement first and then Zelensky is expected to go to Washington for a signing with Trump. The American and Ukrainian officials insisted on speaking anonymously in order to describe private negotiations.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump, speaking from the Oval Office in Washington, said of Zelensky: “I hear that he’s coming on Friday. Certainly, it’s OK with me if he’d like to. And he would like to sign it together with me. And I understand that’s a big deal, very big deal.”
Zelensky has been pressing for days to finalise any agreement with Trump in person. But the Ukrainian leader had rejected at least one other draft of an agreement because it lacked specific US security guarantees and because Trump was requesting mineral rights worth $500 billion, along with other provisions that Ukraine considered unacceptable. The Ukrainians became more comfortable with the deal in the past few days after the Americans removed some of the more onerous conditions.
While the final terms of the deal are not clear, a draft agreement discussed on Tuesday no longer included the demand that Ukraine contribute $500 billion to a fund owned by the US. It also did not include a request that Ukraine pay back the US twice the amount on any future American aid — a demand that Zelensky had compared to imposing a long-term debt on Ukraine.
Instead, the draft agreement said Ukraine would contribute to a fund half of its revenues from the future monetisation of natural resources, including critical minerals, oil and gas. The US would own the maximum financial interest in the fund allowed under American law, though not necessarily all. And the fund would be designed to reinvest some revenues into Ukraine.
The US would also commit to supporting Ukraine’s future economic development.
The discussions about mineral rights have occurred as Russia has seized the advantage on the battlefield. Trump has also aligned himself with President Vladimir V. Putin while excoriating Zelensky.
Trump has called the Ukrainian President a “dictator” and falsely said that Ukraine had started the war, though the conflict began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
He has prodded Zelensky to sign a deal, saying he “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left”. In response, Zelensky said that Trump was trapped in a Russian “disinformation bubble”.
Critics say a previous draft of the deal gave no consideration to the cost in lives that Ukraine has already paid towards Europe’s broader security — by defeating Russia’s initial invasion, preventing a Russian military presence on Nato borders farther west and by grinding down Moscow’s army over three years of fierce fighting.
Zelensky floated the idea of a deal last autumn to provide an incentive for more US military support. But he baulked at the terms presented by the Trump administration when Bessent visited Kyiv.
