An anticipated agreement for Kyiv to transfer natural resources revenues to Washington unexpectedly fell apart during a heated exchange in the Oval Office on February 28, 2025, in a significant break in ties between the two wartime partners.
United States President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance slammed Ukrainian President Mr. Zelensky for not being appreciative enough of American support. They tried to force him into making a peace accord. As voices rose and moods flared, Mr. Trump threatened to ditch Ukraine altogether if Mr. Zelensky disagreed.
The scheduled signing of the U.S.-Ukraine deal did not occur, and Mr. Zelensky departed the White House without responding to reporters’ queries. The fierce televised session was unlike any witnessed in the Oval Office between a U.S. president and a foreign head.
Mr. Vance conveyed to the Ukrainian president that it was “disrespectful” for him to arrive at the Oval Office and deliver his case. He insisted that Mr. Zelensky thank Mr. Trump for his oversight. Mr. Trump joined and told the Ukrainian president,
“You’re not really in a good position right now”
And
“You’re gambling with World War III.”
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,”
Mr. Trump also said.
“And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
Minutes after the gathering, Mr. Trump appeared to conclude the rest of the visit.
“I have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,”
Trump noted on Truth Social.
“I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
Does Ukraine really have mineral reserves?
Ukraine estimates that approximately 5% of the earth’s “critical raw materials” are on its land.
This includes about 19 million tonnes of confirmed reserves of graphite, which the Ukraine’s Geological Survey state agency states make the country “one of the top five leading countries” for the reserve of the mineral. Graphite makes batteries used in electric vehicles.
Kyiv also assesses that it also has noteworthy deposits of lithium and titanium. Ukraine says it has significant portions of the world’s rare earth metals – a set of 17 elements that are utilized to develop weapons, electronics, wind turbines, and other products required in the modern world – but these assertions are debated.
Furthermore, some of Ukraine’s mineral deposits have been taken by Russia. Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s economy minister reported that minerals worth $350bn remain in the seized regions today.
According to reports, there are cautions too that an agreement allowing the US access to Ukraine’s extensive sources of wealth cannot occur unless the nation manages its concern with unexploded mines.
One-fourth of Ukraine’s territory is assessed to be infected with landmines, mainly focused in the war-torn east of the nation.
What are the specific terms of the deal?
Zelensky rejected an initial proposal from the US for $500bn in mineral wealth, but media reports state this request has now been settled. However, Trump stated that the US had given Kyiv between $300bn and $350bn in support and that he desired to “get that money back” through an agreement.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Kyiv and Washington had completed a version of the deal. It was published before the meeting between Trump and Zelensky. The mineral agreement that is now in trouble would have made an American-controlled fund that would welcome revenue from Ukraine’s natural resources.
Based on the daft of the deal, Kyiv would have contributed half of its revenues to the fund from the prospective monetization of natural resources and linked infrastructure, such as port infrastructure and liquefied natural gas terminals. The fund would not utilize revenue from existing oil wells, mines, or other natural resources companies.
The fund would be developed to reinvest some portions of the revenues into Ukraine. In the second phase, the two nations would need to arrange a more detailed procedure to form the fund. The Ukrainian president has expressed that Ukraine’s Parliament would need to approve this second deal.
“This is important to me,”
Mr. Zelensky stated.
“Between the first step and the second step, we need to understand where we stand with the United States.”
Does Ukraine require a security guarantee?
As reported by The New York Times, the draft vaguely referenced security pledges but did not indicate any particular U.S. guarantee to defend Ukraine’s security — a condition Ukraine has vigorously demanded to include as the fighting with Moscow enters its fourth year.
“I wanted to have a sentence on security guarantees for Ukraine, and it’s important that it’s there,”
Zelensky said. He was questioned by the BBC over whether he would be ready to walk away from the deal if Trump did not deliver the guarantees he desired, Zelensky stated:
“I want to find a Nato path or something similar.
“If we don’t get security guarantees, we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing.”
A draft of the deal seen by The New York Times included a sentence saying that the United States
“supports Ukraine’s effort to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”
“I’m not going to provide security guarantees beyond very much,”
Mr. Trump stated during his first cabinet session.
“We’re going to have Europe do that.”
What are the demands of Kyiv?
Experts say that as the Ukrainian president scheduled to meet with Mr. Trump on Friday morning, he kept two things on his mind: gaining a chair at the negotiating table with Russia and assuring protection against future Moscow aggression.
Mr. Trump has presented Mr. Zelensky with no position as yet in discussions with Russia that unlocked this month in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Zelensky has stated he will tolerate no deal without Ukraine’s engagement.
Zelensky has made clear that the deal on natural resources — which would hand over half the country’s future revenues from natural gas, oil, and mining to a fund that is regulated in part by the U.S. — is not an end in itself. He is pursuing continued U.S. support.
How did the Kremlin react to the deal?
The Russian president has not yet addressed statements that the terms of an agreement between the US and Ukraine have been approved.
However, he told state TV he was willing to “offer” resources to U.S. partners in joint assignments, including mining in Moscow’s “new territories” – a connection to parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia has settled since undertaking a full-scale attack three years ago.
Putin expressed a potential US-Ukraine agreement on rare minerals was not a problem and that Russia
“undoubtedly have, I want to emphasize, significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine”.
“As for the new territories, it’s the same. We are ready to attract foreign partners to the so-called new, to our historical territories, which have returned to the Russian Federation,”
He also said.
Remarking on Zelensky’s visit to the U.S., Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated:
“Whether it will be [to sign] the aforementioned agreement or something else, we’ll see. There have been no official statements on this matter yet.”
