President Trump on Monday signaled he could meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming weeks at the White House to finalize a deal on critical minerals.
Trump’s comments, which came during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, happened days after he suggested Zelensky did not need to be part of negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine.
“I will be meeting with President Zelensky. In fact he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“They’re very close to a final deal. It’ll be a deal with rare earths and various other things. And he would like to come, as I understand it, here to sign it,” Trump added. “And that would be great with me. I think they then have to get it approved by their council or whoever might approve it. But I’m sure that will happen.”
The Trump administration has been involved in talks with Ukraine about gaining access to the country’s critical minerals amid talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war. U.S. officials have suggested the deal would benefit Ukraine because it would create a greater incentive to provide security guarantees for Kyiv.
Trump suggested Monday the agreement would be a way for the U.S. to recoup the money it has spent on military assistance for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“We’re getting very close to getting an agreement where we get our money back over a period of time. But it also gives us something where I think it’s very beneficial to their economy, to them as a country,” Trump said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who met with Zelensky in Ukraine earlier this month, said the deal was at “the one-yard line.”
Monday marked three years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after amassing troops on the border and demanding a ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO. The invasion took place nearly a decade after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Trump has become increasingly critical of Zelensky as he pushes for an end to the war. Trump last week raised eyebrows when he called Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” claimed he was doing a “terrible job” and suggested Zelensky was responsible for the start of the war.
“I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you,” Trump said Friday. “He makes it very hard to make deals.”
