President Zelensky says he hopes an initial mineral agreement with the US “will lead to further deals”, but confirmed no American security guarantees have been agreed yet. The deal was referred to as more of a “framework”.
He refers to a jointly owned fund where 50% of Ukraine’s natural resource revenues would be contributed, but adds that it was “too early to talk about money”.
He also says his team pressed the Americans to include a line about support for security guarantees, although nothing concrete has been decided yet.
“I wanted to have a sentence on security guarantees for Ukraine, and it’s important that it’s there,” he adds.
On Donald Trump’s previous demands that Ukraine repay the billions of dollars’ worth of military aid the US had supplied to date, Zelensky says the deal wouldn’t see Ukraine “repay 10 cents”.
Ukraine’s leader says that if he visits the White House on Friday, he will be “very direct” by asking whether America will continue supporting Ukraine or not.
The BBC asked Zelensky whether he’d walk away from the agreement if Trump did not offer the security guarantees he wanted, to which he replied, “I want to find a Nato path or something similar,” adding: “If we don’t get security guarantees, we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing.”
Minerals deal ‘can be a big success’ – Zelensky
Commenting on the minerals deal, Zelensky stresses that the main issue for him is the continuation of US aid to Ukraine.
He says that a preliminary minerals deal “is just a start, a framework, it can be a big success.”
“The success will depend on our conversation with President Trump,” Zelensky says.
He adds that he will be pushing for security guarantees for Ukraine tied to any future – wider – bilateral agreements.
The US has been a key military aid provider to Ukraine under the Biden presidency, but US President Donald Trump has suggested a revision of the assistance they provide.
Ukraine to contribute 50% of natural resources monetisation revenues to new fund – PM Shmyhal
Ukrainian Prime Minister Dennys Shmyhal earlier today said his country’s contribution to the investment fund would be 50% of future revenues from “monetisation of all the natural resources assets”.
“The US will also be making corresponding contributions”, he said, adding that the funds would be then re-invested in Ukraine’s development, reconstruction and safety.
US officials are yet to publicly comment on the issue.
