On Thursday, President Donald Trump revealed that a minerals agreement could be finalized between the United States and Ukraine as early as next week. This comes after weeks of delays.
“We have a minerals deal,” Trump announced during his Oval Office meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “Which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday … next Thursday? Soon.”
With this agreement, the United States would then have access to Ukraine’s supply of critical minerals. The deal was expected to be finalized in February with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit. However, Trump paused talks on the matter after the meeting turned contentious.
Newsmax reports:
In February, Trump halted talks and temporarily paused U.S. aid to Ukraine after accusing Zelenskyy of being “not ready for peace” during their Oval Office meeting.
The potential deal resurfaced last month when Trump signed an executive order aimed at increasing domestic production of critical minerals. He confirmed at the time that the Ukraine agreement remained on track.
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the administration is “still working on the details” for time and place of signing. However, it appears that officials are aiming to seal the seal on April 26.
“It’s substantially what we agreed on previously. The president was here, we had a memorandum of understanding, we went straight to the big deal … and I think it’s an 80-page agreement, and that’s what will be signed,” Bessent stated.
Zelenskyy, in comments reported earlier in the day, said Kyiv and Washington could sign a memorandum of intent related to the minerals pact as soon as next Thursday.
“I assume they’re going to live up to the deal, so we’ll see. But we have a deal on that,” Trump said.
The deal is expected to be a key part of the administration’s efforts to secure U.S. access to strategic minerals as the Ukraine-Russia war continues.
When asked about how long Russian President Vladimir Putin has to respond to Trump’s ceasefire plan before new sanctions are imposed, he replied, “We’ll see what that will be. We’re going to be hearing from them this week. Very shortly, actually. And we’ll see.”
Trump added, “But we want it to stop. We want the death and the killing to stop.”