US-Ukraine resources deal still on table despite Trump-Zelensky spat, Kyiv says

AFP | Kyiv

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Kyiv and Washington are engaged in talks over a deal to hand the United States preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits, a source in Kyiv said yesterday -- despite a dramatic spat between leaders Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.

The US president’s top advisers have doubled down on their attacks on the Ukrainian leader in recent days, after Trump branded him a “dictator” and said Ukraine had “started” the war with Russia.

The war of words has stunned Kyiv and European capitals, a sign of just how rapidly Trump is overhauling Washington’s long-standing support for Ukraine as he opens talks with Moscow on a settlement to the conflict.

The United States had been Ukraine’s most important financial, military and political backer since Russia invaded in February 2022,in what the West’s top powers had condemned as an unprovoked and illegal war of aggression.

Despite the tensions between Zelensky and Trump, talks on a possible agreement to give the US preferential access to Ukraine’s critical resources and minerals were “ongoing” yesterday, a senior Ukrainian official with knowledge of the matter said.

Kyiv had rejected a first attempt by Trump’s team to strike a deal for Ukraine’s natural resources, saying the proposal did not include security guarantees for Kyiv -- a move that infuriated Trump.

“There is a constant exchange of drafts, we sent another one yesterday,” the Kyiv source said, adding that Ukraine was now waiting for a US response.

‘Sign that deal’

Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Thursday publicly told Kyiv to “take a hard look and sign that deal”.

“President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” he said.

Trump wants Ukraine to give US companies access as compensation for tens of billions of dollars of aid delivered under his predecessor Joe Biden.

But Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from the United States in exchange for signing away precious rights to vast amounts of its natural resources and critical minerals.