President Donald Trump confirmed Monday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit the United States this week to finalize a major mineral deal between the two countries. The agreement, which has been in negotiations for months, is expected to mark a significant shift in U.S.-Ukraine relations, with economic interests now taking center stage over the ongoing war effort.
“I hear that [Zelensky is] coming on Friday,” Trump told reporters. “Certainly it’s OK with me if he’d like to.”
Ukrainian officials have since verified the visit, stating that Zelensky will meet with Trump at the White House to sign the deal.
The Financial Times reports that the agreement, initially proposed by the Trump administration, outlines Ukraine’s commitment to contribute 50% of proceeds from the ‘future monetization’ of state-owned mineral resources, including oil and gas, into a fund that will be used to invest in projects within Ukraine. The deal does not include mineral resources that are already under development by Ukraine’s major oil and gas producers.
The final version of the agreement, however, differs from the Trump administration’s original proposal, which reportedly sought $500 billion in mineral revenue as repayment for U.S. financial aid to Ukraine over the past three years. That provision was ultimately dropped.
“It’s a very big deal. It could be a trillion-dollar deal,” Trump said Tuesday. “We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars on Ukraine and Russia fighting a war that should have never, ever happened.”
The mineral deal signals a strategic pivot in the U.S.-Ukraine partnership, emphasizing economic cooperation over direct military aid. Notably, the agreement does not contain any U.S. security guarantees that Ukraine had reportedly sought. The specifics regarding the U.S. stake in the fund and the terms of “joint ownership” remain unresolved and will be addressed in future agreements.
The deal comes just days after Trump referred to Zelensky as a “dictator” while discussing the ongoing war and the U.S.’s role in it. The remark, along with Trump’s continued push for peace negotiations, underscores the shifting dynamics between Washington and Kyiv.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and lead negotiator in the mineral deal, acknowledged that the agreement is just “part of the picture” in Ukraine’s broader relationship with the U.S.
“We have heard multiple times from the U.S. administration that it’s part of a bigger picture,” she said.
