US President Donald Trump says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be coming to Washington to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals, while the Ukrainian leader said the success of the deal would hinge on those talks and continued US aid.

Under the deal, which Ukraine's prime minister has called "preliminary," Kyiv would hand some revenue from its mineral resources to a fund jointly controlled by the US.

The agreement is central to Ukrainian attempts to win strong support from Trump as he seeks a quick end to Russia's war.
US-Russian talks that have so far excluded Kyiv were set to continue on Thursday.

Trump said Zelensky would sign the agreement on rare earths and other topics during his visit, but suggested Washington would not make far-reaching security guarantees.

Kyiv has been seeking US security guarantees as part of the deal, cast by Trump as a payment for US aid to Kyiv during the war.

"I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond – very much. We're going to have Europe do that," Trump said, without elaborating.

Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said his talks with Trump would stress the importance obtaining security guarantees "to ensure that Russia no longer destroys the lives of other nations" and added that continued US aid was vital.

"For me and for all of us in the world, it is important that American aid is not halted. Strength is needed on the path to peace," he said.

Why the Trump administration may want Ukraine's minerals. – AP

Last week, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson said there was "no appetite" for another funding bill for Ukraine.

Johnson's comments came a day after Trump called Zelensky a "dictator" and warned he must move quickly to secure peace with Russia or risk losing his country.

Zelensky earlier said the most important thing was that the current draft did not portray Ukraine as a debtor that would have to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars for past military assistance.

"This agreement could be part of future security guarantees ... an agreement is an agreement, but we need to understand the broader vision," he said in Kyiv.

"This deal could be a great success or it could pass quietly. And the big success depends on our conversation with President Trump."

He said it would be a success if the US becomes a provider of security guarantees for Ukraine, which wants protection from future Russian attacks if a peace deal is reached.

Fighting has continued in Ukraine during the flurry of diplomacy, with Ukraine frequently coming under attack from Russian missiles and drones in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Activists protests against minerals deal outside US embassy in Kyiv. – Reuters

Trump said earlier this week that Zelensky wanted to come to Washington to sign a "very big deal".

Trump has been fiercely critical of Zelensky as he upended US policy on the war, calling him a "dictator" and ending a campaign to isolate Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 12 and a Russian-US meeting took place in Saudi Arabia on February 18.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian and US diplomats would meet in Istanbul to discuss resolving bilateral disputes that are part of a wider dialogue the sides see as crucial to ending the Ukraine war.

Lavrov says Russian, US diplomats to meet in Istanbul to discuss embassy operations. – AP

Lavrov again ruled out "any options" for European peacekeepers being sent to Ukraine although Trump has said some form of peacekeeping troops are needed in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict is struck.

"Nobody has asked us about this," Lavrov said during a visit to Qatar.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to meet Trump on Thursday and on Sunday will host leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Poland and other allies to discuss their response to Trump's moves.

European leaders, including Starmer, held an emergency meeting in Paris this month where they were split on the idea of deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine.

A copy of a draft agreement dated February 25, said: "The Government of the United States of America supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace."

Mapping Ukraine's mineral deposits

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Washington would commit to supporting Kyiv's efforts to obtain security guarantees under the finalised deal, though the Americans offered no security pledges of their own.

Shmyhal said Ukraine's government was giving its approval to the agreed wording so that it could be signed. He described it as a "preliminary" agreement.

"After the Ukrainian president and the US president agree on security guarantees, agree on how we tie this preliminary agreement to security guarantees from the United States for our country, in the presence of (both) presidents, a representative of the Ukrainian government will sign this preliminary agreement," he said.

In a comment aimed at calming the fears of worried Ukrainians, Shmyhal said Ukraine would never "sign or consider ... a colonial treaty that did not take into account the interests of the state."

Mapping resources in Ukraine and Russia-controlled Ukraine

Shmyhal, outlining the agreement in televised comments, said Kyiv would contribute 50 per cent of "all proceeds received from the future monetisation of all relevant state-owned natural resource assets and relevant infrastructure."

Those proceeds would go into a fund under the joint control of the United States and Ukraine, he said, adding that no decision about the governance of the fund could be taken without Kyiv's agreement."

Already existing deposits, facilities, licenses and rents are not subject to discussion when creating this fund," he added.

Ukraine outlines US minerals deal, but touts no concrete security guarantees. – Reuters

Key provisions of the draft deal

Following are details of a draft framework minerals agreement between Ukraine and the United States, a copy of which – dated February 25 – has been reviewed by Reuters.

Reconstruction Investment Fund 

• The document is titled "Bilateral Agreement Establishing Terms and Conditions for a Reconstruction Investment Fund" 
• The two countries will establish a Reconstruction Investment Fund to collect and reinvest revenues from Ukrainian resources. Representatives from both countries will jointly manage the fund
• A subsequent agreement about the fund will be "negotiated promptly" after the conclusion of this agreement
• Ukraine will contribute to the fund 50 per cent of revenues earned from relevant Ukrainian state-owned natural resources developed in the future
•  The deal does not name the assets and says they will be defined in a later agreement that will go to a vote in parliament
• The assets are "defined as deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, and other extractable materials, and other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquefied natural gas terminals and port infrastructure)"
• "For the avoidance of doubt, such future sources of revenues do not include the current sources of revenues which are already part of the general budget revenues of Ukraine"
• The fund will aim to invest in Ukrainian projects and attract investment in public and private assets including natural resources, infrastructure, ports and state-owned enterprises
• Contributions to the fund will be reinvested in Ukraine to promote "the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine"

Security guarantees

• The US government will support Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace. There is no mention of concrete US security guarantees, which Kyiv hopes it can obtain
•  "The Government of the United States of America supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace"
• The United States will provide a long-term financial commitment to the development of a "stable and economically prosperous Ukraine"
• The agreement will include "concrete steps to establish lasting peace, and to strengthen economic security resilience"
• The draft seen by Reuters says that the agreement will be signed by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha

What changing US foreign policy means for Ukraine. – AP

What are rare earth metals and why are they in demand?

Rare earth metals are making headlines as demand rises for products from smartphones to wind turbines, and as governments seek secure supply.

Here are some basic facts about them:

What are they? 

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements including 15 silvery-white metals called lanthanides, or lanthanoids, plus scandium and yttrium. 

What are they used for? 

They are used in a wide range of products including consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), aircraft engines, medical equipment, oil refining, and military applications such as missiles and radar systems.

What country is the biggest producer? 

China accounts for about 60 per cent of global mine production and 90 per cent of processed and permanent magnet output. Beijing sets quotas on output, smelting, and separation, which are closely monitored as a barometer of global supply. 

What are their names? 

In their periodic table order, they are: scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.

Which ones are most common? 

Lanthanum and cerium are among the most common rare earth metals. Lanthanum is used in camera lenses and lighting. Cerium is used in catalytic converters, which reduce combustion engine emissions.

Neodymium and praseodymium are in demand for permanent magnets used in EV motors and wind turbines.

Are they rare? 

They are not rare in the sense that they are uncommon; some are more common than lead, for example. But they tend to be spread thin around the Earth's crust in small quantities and mixed together or with other minerals, so larger deposits are difficult to find and costly to extract.

What environmental impact do they have? 

Processing rare earths often involves the use of solvents, which can produce toxic waste that pollutes the soil, water and atmosphere. More environmentally friendly technologies are being developed, but they are not yet widely used.

Certain types of rare earth ores also contain radioactive thorium or uranium, which is often removed using acid.

For this reason, development of the sector faces health and environmental regulatory hurdles.