Zelenskyy says progress made on reaching an agreement with the U.S. on rare minerals deal

Photo: The Canadian Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answers media questions during his press conference, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

UPDATE 11:53 a.m.

A contentious U.S. proposal that would have seen $500 billion worth of profits from Ukrainian rare minerals given to the United States as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, a sign the two sides may be drawing closer to an agreement.

“As of today, as of this evening, the question of $500 billion is no longer there,” Zelenskyy said during a news conference at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. officials under President Donald Trump have pressured Zelenskyy to sign a deal allowing the U.S. access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals as a form of compensation for the assistance the U.S has provided Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Zelenskyy had earlier declined a draft agreement with the U.S. on mineral exploitation because it did not contain security guarantees and came with a $500 billion price tag.

On Sunday, he said that considering aid to Ukraine as a debt to be repaid would be a “Pandora's box” that would set a precedent requiring Kyiv to reimburse all its backers.

“We do not recognize the debt," Zelenskyy said. "It will not be in the final format of the agreement.”

Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that the expects a deal this week on allowing the U.S. to play a greater role in exploiting valuable Ukrainian minerals such as lithium and other substances used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Fox News Channel on Sunday that the administration's minerals plan was to create a U.S.-Ukraine partnership, calling it a “win-win.”

“We make money if the Ukrainian people make money,” Bessent said.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, left the Kyiv forum early along with Economic Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko for what Yermak said were talks with U.S. officials on a potential deal.

Later in the day, Yermak posted on social media that he'd spoken with U.S. officials including Bessent and Trump's national security adviser Mike Walz, saying it had been a “constructive conversation.”

“We are making progress in our work,” Yermak wrote. “The USA is our partner and we are grateful to the American people.”

ORIGINAL 8:19 a.m.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he would be ready to give up the presidency if doing so would achieve a lasting peace for his country under the security umbrella of the NATO military alliance.

Speaking at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said, “If to achieve peace, you really need me to give up my post, I’m ready.”

Responding to a journalist's question on whether he’d trade his office for peace, Zelenskyy said, “I can trade it for NATO."

His comment appeared to be aimed at recent suggestions by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that elections should be held in Ukraine despite Ukrainian legislation prohibiting them during martial law.

Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Russia launched 267 strike drones into Ukraine overnight on Saturday, more than in any other single attack of the war.

Ukraine's air force said 138 drones had been shot down over 13 Ukrainian regions, with 119 more lost en route to their targets.

Three ballistic missiles had also been fired, the air force said. One person was killed in the city of Kryvyi Rih, according to the city military administration.

The attack came as leaders in Kyiv and across Europe are seeking to navigate rapid changes in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who in a matter of days has upended years of firm support for Ukraine, leading to fears that he would join with Moscow to force a settlement to the war without involving Ukraine and its European backers.

Ukraine fears Trump's policy shift toward Putin

Trump's engagement with Russian officials and his agreement to reopen diplomatic ties and economic cooperation with Moscow marked a dramatic about-face in U.S. policy.

Zelenskyy has expressed fears that Trump pushing a quick resolution would result in lost territory for Ukraine and vulnerability to future Russian aggression, though U.S. officials have asserted that the Ukrainian leader would be involved if and when peace talks actually start.

Trump, however, prompted alarm and anger in Ukraine when this week he suggested that Kyiv had started the war, and that Zelenskyy was acting as a “dictator” by not holding elections, despite Ukrainian legislation prohibiting them during martial law.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister on Saturday said preparations were underway for a Trump-Putin meeting, a further sign that the Russian leader's isolation, at least for the Trump administration, was beginning to thaw.

Reacting to the latest Russian attacks, however, Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that the overnight attack "demonstrates that avoiding calling Russia an aggressor does not change the fact that it is one.”

“No one should trust Putin’s words. Look at his actions instead,” Sybiha said in a statement on social media.

Ukraine continuing dialogue with U.S. over mineral deal

Ukrainian officials on Sunday discussed a deal that would allow the U.S. to access Ukrainian rare earth minerals, a proposal Trump's administration is pushing for but that Zelenskyy earlier declined to accept because it lacked specific security guarantees.

At the forum in Kyiv where Zelenskyy made the offer to give up his presidency in return for peace and NATO membership, his chief of staff Andrii Yermak said the government was considering investment opportunities both with the U.S and European countries “which includes minerals, their development and extraction.”

Yermak left the forum early along with Economic Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko for what he said were talks with U.S. representatives on a potential deal. He said Ukraine’s mineral resources represent “a very important element that can work in the general structure of security guarantees — military guarantees and others."

Yermak pushed back on the notion that Ukraine had rejected U.S. proposals but said any agreement “must meet the national interests of Ukraine, and undoubtedly, must be interesting to our partners.”

Before leaving the forum, Svyrydenko said there are $350 billion worth of minerals on Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia. This calculation, however, is partly based on geological maps dating back to 1940s and 1960s, she said, adding: “We have to conduct geological exploration and confirm the deposits we have on paper.”

Meanwhile, Putin in a special televised message Sunday praised Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine for defending “their native land, the national interests and the future of Russia.”

Putin used his speech, on Russia’s Defender of the Fatherland Day, to pledge greater social support for military personnel and new weapons and equipment for Russian forces.

“Today, as the world is changing impetuously, our strategic course for strengthening and developing the Armed Forces remains unchanged,” he said, adding that Russia would continue to develop its armed forces “as the essential part of Russia’s security that guarantees its sovereign present and future.”

European leaders prepare for talks with Trump

The U.K. on Sunday said it would announce new sanctions on Russia Monday, its biggest package since the early days of the war. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the measures would be aimed at “eroding (Russia’s) military machine and reducing revenues fueling the fires of destruction in Ukraine.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron will make tag-team visits to Washington this week as Europe attempts to persuade Trump not to abandon Ukraine in pursuit of a peace deal.

Starmer told a Labour Party gathering in Scotland on Sunday: “There can be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine must have a long-term secure future.”