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US pushes for more expansive minerals deal with Ukraine

28 March 2025, 02:56 | Updated: 28 March 2025, 08:18

The US is reportedly pushing for a more expansive minerals deal with Ukraine.

That's according to three people familiar with the ongoing negotiations, who have spoken to the news agency, Reuters.

A deal on Ukraine's critical minerals has emerged as an apparently key stepping stone towards peace since Donald Trump began his second term in the White House.

The US president has said he wants to claw back some of the money his country has spent helping Ukraine after Russia invaded it in February 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington previously to sign a critical minerals deal, but was told to leave the White House after a row erupted with the president and vice president in front of the world's media.

On Thursday, Mr Zelenskyy said the US was "constantly" changing the terms of the proposed deal, but he added he did not want Washington to think Kyiv was against it.

Earlier in the week, he said the US had proposed a "major" new deal, and his officials were still reviewing it.

The new proposal is still said to include no security guarantee - something Kyiv has said is vital to ensure a stable peace.

The new terms go well beyond the deal discussed previously, with treasury secretary Scott Bessent said to be leading negotiations.

Trump has claimed the minerals deal will help secure a peace agreement by giving the US a financial stake in Ukraine, therefore discouraging future Russian aggression.

Despite Mr Trump having recently spoken about it, the proposal was said to make no mention of the US taking ownership over Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt declined to confirm the terms of the latest proposal, but said: "The mineral deal offers Ukraine the opportunity to form an enduring economic relationship with the United States that is the basis for long-term security and peace."

An earlier version of the deal suggested a joint investment fund, where Ukraine would contribute 50% of the proceeds from future profits of the extraction of the state-owned resources.

The new proposal says that the US is given first rights to buy resources extracted under the agreement and that it will recoup all the money it has given Ukraine since 2022, in addition to 4% annual interest, all before Ukraine begins to gain access to the fund's profits.

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The new proposal was first reported by the Financial Times.

It comes as developments are moving quickly elsewhere in regards to news around the war in Ukraine.

Here is some of the other latest news:

• Russia and Ukraine both this week agreed to a US-organised Black Sea ceasefire;
• France's Emmanuel Macron announced plans for an Anglo-French "reassurance" force in Ukraine;
• Vladimir Putin warned the US was "serious" about its intentions over Greenland;
• Fighting between the two sides continues.