Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have confirmed that the Ukrainian leader is set to visit Washington on Feb. 28 to sign a deal on developing Ukraine’s mineral resources.
Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26, Trump announced that he and Zelensky would sign “a very big agreement” on Friday.
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“We are doing very well with Russia and Ukraine. President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday, that’s now confirmed, and we’re going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement,” Trump said, speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Zelensky also confirmed his visit in his nightly address, stating, “We are preparing for negotiations with the United States, and I will meet with Trump this Friday.” His statement followed earlier uncertainty about the trip, which he had previously said was not yet finalized.
Trump said that the agreement could help offset US military aid to Ukraine and generate significant future revenue for Washington.
“We’ve been able to make a deal where we will get our money back, and we will get a lot of money in the future,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, Ukrainian officials confirmed that Kyiv is ready to sign an agreement with the US on developing its mineral resources – including oil and gas – after Washington dropped demands for the right to $500 billion in potential revenue from exploiting Ukraine’s resources.
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AFP, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials, reported that Zelensky could make the trip as early as Friday. Trump hinted that he was aware of such reports at a press conference on Tuesday in the Oval Office.
“I hear that he’s coming on Friday. Certainly, it’s ok with me if he’d like to [come] and he’d like to sign [the resources deal] together. I understand that’s a big deal, very big,” Trump said.
A copy of the revised agreement, obtained by European Pravda, makes no mention of the monetary value to be extracted from Ukraine’s mineral resources under the agreement.
However, it stipulates that “50% of all revenues generated from the future monetization of all relevant natural resource assets” would go toward a joint US-Ukraine fund, though the amount “[does] not include current sources of revenue that are already part of the general revenues of the budget of Ukraine.”
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