(VOVWORLD) -US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a minerals deal after some contentious negotiations.
 US President Donald Trump (right) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) (Photo: AFP) |
Trump made the announcement at the start of the first Cabinet meeting of his second term and said a framework agreement has been reached and will be signed by the weekend.
The US and Ukraine will have joint ownership of a fund, and Ukraine will contribute to the fund 50% of future proceeds from state-owned resources, including rare earths, critical minerals, and port infrastructure. The deal, which reportedly amounts to 500 billion USD, is considered by the Trump administration to be an opportunity for the US to get its "money back" after funding aid to Ukraine.
President Trump said, "President Zelenskyy is going to be coming on Friday. It's now confirmed and we're going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement that will be on rare earth and other things. The previous administration put us in a very bad position but we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get our money back and we're going to get a lot of money in the future."
But the US President was noncommittal about any coming American security guarantees being part of the agreement. “We’re going to have Europe do that,” he said. Trump also said Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, which he believes to be the reason why the Russia-Ukraine conflict started.