Zelenskyy: US offers Ukraine extended minerals deal

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with journalists and spoke about the negotiations between the Ukrainian and American delegations, photo: OP

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the United States had offered Ukraine an expanded agreement on minerals, which would immediately require ratification in parliament.

The President said this during a press briefing on the results of the talks in Jeddah, according to NikVesti.

According to him, the details of the agreement are not yet known, but Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that it is an expanded version proposed by the American side.

«Yesterday, the team briefed me on the new deal. What does it look like now? It's a big, complete deal, the vision of the American side. That is, from the steps that were taken earlier, the framework agreement, you remember, and after the framework agreement, a full agreement is developed. Now the American side has offered our side a big deal — their vision. I don't have the details yet. I have asked them to properly understand this agreement, to clarify all the details in this agreement, and then we will get together. Such a document will be developed by the parties, and then submitted to the Parliament for ratification», Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Agreement on minerals between Ukraine and the United States

Earlier, Donald Trump said that he would like to conclude an agreement under which Ukraine would supply the United States with rare earth minerals needed for electronics production in exchange for American aid.

However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticised Donald Trump's proposal to provide Ukraine with military assistance in exchange for its minerals.

Subsequently, US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine had agreed to provide Washington with access to rare earth minerals worth $500 billion.

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It should be noted, however, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign the agreement on granting the US access to rare earth minerals. The White House called this decision «short-sighted».

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the United States might consider investing in mining on the Black Sea shelf, which is currently under Russian occupation.

US National Security Advisor Mike Volz called on Kyiv «to tone it down» and sign the mining agreement that President Zelenskyy had previously rejected.

Subsequently, the US President Donald Trump's administration sent Ukraine an updated version of the mining agreement, which took into account some of Kyiv's comments. The new draft US minerals agreement provides for the distribution of revenues from resources in the liberated territories of Ukraine.

In addition, the US is in preliminary talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo to conclude an agreement on access to critical minerals.