BREAKING: President Trump has confirmed that Ukraine and the United States have agreed the terms of “a major minerals deal”. Trump said that Ukraine’s President Zelensky will sign the agreement with him at the White House on Friday.
He said: “It’s a very big deal, it could be a trillion dollar deal”. He said the American people would be very happy with the agreement. So far there are few details of the agreement. It’s not clear whether the US will offer Ukraine any security guarantees in return, something that has been a key Ukrainian demand. Ukraine is rich in oil and gas along with many rare minerals.
President Trump had initially demanded a right to $500 billion in revenue from Ukraine’s minerals, in return for what he claimed were the costs to the US of supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.
That demand was rejected by President Zelensky, contributing to a war of words with Mr Trump in recent days, with the US president describing the Ukrainian leader as a “dictator”.
Zelensky said nowhere near that much American aid had been provided, and said: “I can’t sell our state.” Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting from Gary O’Donoghue in Washington and James Waterhouse in Kyiv.