Ukraine-Russia latest: Starmer reins in Trump criticism in plea for US ‘backstop’ on anniversary of war
Kyiv and the White House are in the final stages of negotiations in a deal for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna said.
Nearly all the key details have been finalised and Kyiv is committed to completing the deal “as swiftly as possible”, she said in a post on X – which was deleted several minutes after it went up. Ukraine has offered to sign the deal in Washington, D.C in a meeting between the two presidents, the post added.
It comes days after the White House national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said Ukraine would sign the deal in the “very short term”.
The Trump administration had previously demanded $500 billion of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals to compensate for its wartime loans. Kyiv rejected this offer, stating that the figure was far higher than the support sent to Ukraine by the White House.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson, who is in Kyiv to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, said earlier today that the countries were “very close to getting this minerals agreement signed between the US and Ukraine”.
The news comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is joined by the world leaders at the Support Ukraine event. Mr Zelensky said Ukraine has “more friends in the world than ever before”, adding that Russia is targeting the European way of life.
