President Donald Trump on Thursday said an 80-page minerals deal will be signed with Ukraine in one week.
While Trump announced during a press event from the Oval Office alongside Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that the deal would be signed next Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later amended that it would likely be signed on April 26.
Details on the agreement still remain relatively unknown, though recent reporting by Bloomberg has suggested the U.S. has eased back its demands of repayment for its aid in Ukraine’s fight against Russia from $300 billion to $100 billion.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE US-UKRAINE MINERAL DEAL SO FAR
Though Zelenskyy has said that he does not view aid given to Ukraine prior to Trump entering office as a debt, he has acknowledged that Ukraine will need to pay for military aid going forward and on Wednesday said that “good progress” had been made following meetings last week between the Trump administration and a Ukrainian delegation.
When pressed by reporters on Thursday about details of the deal, Bessent said that “substantially [its] what was agreed upon previously” — signaling that, in essence, the U.S. has been granted some sort of “rare earth” rights in exchange for continued military support.
US SAYS ZELENSKYY HAS AGREED TO SIGN MINERAL DEAL: ‘WE’LL SEE IF HE FOLLOWS THROUGH’
Zelenskyy on Wednesday said that a memorandum of understanding could be signed at any moment, a crucial step in order for the official minerals deal to be signed.
Bessent referenced this memorandum on Thursday during his comments and said this is what Zelenskyy was supposed to sign during his White House visit in February, but noted that “we went straight to the big deal.”
This “big deal” is what Fox News Digital was told Zelenskyy refused to sign and led to the Oval Office blow-up that played out on live television.
Trump, when pressed by reporters, had little information on who would sign the deal or where a signing could take place, though previous reporting has suggested that neither Zelenskyy nor Trump is needed to actually sign the deal.
The agreement would most likely be signed by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko, as well as Bessent.
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