Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seriously considering a revised deal with the US to relinquish the rights of more than $500 billion of natural resources as repayment for wartime aid, despite previously objecting to its terms, according to reports.
The progress came after days of negotiations and pressure from Washington to reach a deal, which would propel an end to Ukraine’s brutal war with Russia.
In a related development, President Trump said Saturday that a new phase of cease-fire negotiations between the US and Russia will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, starting Tuesday.
It does not appear that Ukrainian representatives were invited to the new round of talks.
Monday marks the third anniversary of the bloody conflict. Ukrainian officials said Saturday that Russia has seen 866,000 troops wounded or killed on the battlefield since the invasion.
US officials estimate Ukraine loses between 60,000 and 70,000 soldiers, according to the Institute for the Study of War, while Ukraine puts its casualty count at 46,000 dead and 390,000 wounded.
In the deliberations with the US, Zelensky fought for weapons and security guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression in exchange for access to its valuable rare earth materials, factors that held up previous talks. It is not clear if the new deal includes such provisions.
“Any deal that can be made has to be mutually beneficial,” a spokesperson for the Ukrainian president’s office told The Post Friday.
In his nightly address Friday, Zelensky said the deal being worked on has the potential to strengthen relations between Ukraine and the US and that he is hoping for a “fair result.”
The deal could strip Ukraine of revenue from natural resources and other earnings that could help it rebuild after the war.
Ukrainian sources blasted the revised deal as not reflecting any “partnership” and containing “only unilateral commitments” from Ukraine that would cost it more than its defense was worth, Sky News reported.
Tensions were fueled by President Trump and Zelensky trading insults earlier in the week, with Trump blasting Ukraine’s leader as an “unelected dictator.” Zelensky fired back that Trump was living in a “disinformation web.”
Yet US officials insisted the deal was close, and expected it to be signed as early as Saturday.
“President Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term,” US national security adviser Mike Waltz said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.
US negotiators are playing hardball, even threatening to cut Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s vital Starlink satellite internet system if a deal isn’t reached, according to reports.
The satellites are crucial for Ukraine’s survival during the conflict, allowing soldiers to communicate on the front lines and businesses to maintain operations.
The US also cut Ukraine out of talks with Russia this week and said Zelensky is not essential to negotiations.
It has demanded that European countries step up and support Ukraine financially and come up with plans to uphold any peace agreements.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Zelensky on Saturday and promised support in coordination with their European partners until a “lasting peace is achieved,” according to a statement from his office.
Scholz also said Ukraine must be at the table in future negotiations and that Europeans must be involved in discussions about the continent’s security.
Separately, however, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington Friday, saying that Russia had “serious security reasons” for it.
And Saturday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strongest supporters in Europe, said that Hungary would decide if Ukraine ever got to join the European Union.
“Against the will of Hungary and the Hungarians, Ukraine will never be a member of the European Union,” Orbán said the annual State of the Nation address in Budapest. “Ukraine’s accession would destroy Hungarian farmers, and not only them, but the entire Hungarian national economy.”
The EU requires unanimous support from all members to accept a new country.
With Post wires
