Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelensky will be meeting President Donald Trump for the first time on Friday. He will re-enter the White House and sign a signing to sign a critical mineral trade to end the Russian war.
Although some details of the contract have been revealed since the announcement of this week’s meeting, the exact terms remain unknown, and European leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, are waiting to see what will come from the agreement, particularly when it comes to security demands.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that Zelensky could “forget” his ambition to join NATO, but the Ukrainian president also said security guarantees were needed.
What we know about US-Ukraine mineral trading so far
Trump convened his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday. (Getty Images)
“I want to find a NATO pass or something similar,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian leadership has long been seeking NATO membership, and at the Bucharest Summit in 2008, the Alliance agreed that Ukraine would eventually become a member of NATO.
Trump told reporters that by signing a mineral contract with Washington, Kiev will grant “automatic security” guarantees through the mere presence of American extractors in Ukrainian soils.
“No one is going to mess with our people when we’re there,” Trump said. “We’re there like that.”
Zelensky is looking for “NATO or something similar” as he prepares to meet Trump
Ukrainian President Voldy Mie Zelensky will give a speech at a press conference on February 26th, 2025. Zelensky said he received an invitation to meet Washington President Donald Trump after negotiators secured a draft that gave them access to US mineral resources. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
However, whether this “guarantee” is sufficient to comfort Zelensky remains unclear, and there are too many notable factors to determine whether Putin, including Kiev’s ability to re-sign, will be deterred, and whether NATO agrees to send Ukraine to the military, according to former CIA Moscow Director Dan Hoffman.
“As long as Putin deters Ukraine’s relationship with the US, particularly its relationship with this administration, you want the US to have in-game economic skin,” Hoffman said. “That’s how you walk the path of close bilateral relations, and that’s certainly what we’re interested in… because (Ukraine) is an independent, sovereign state.”
Trump said Wednesday that European allies, including the UK and France, are looking at talks between Ukraine and Russia “very closely.”
“They volunteered to put what is called peacekeeping forces on the site, and I think that’s a good thing,” he added.
In response to questions about the European Union’s position on the US-Ukraine Minerals deal, according to Fox News Digital, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the agreement could prove positive for Kyiv as long as Ukraine is in a position of strength when it comes to countering Russia at the negotiating table.
Kaja Karasu (Nicolas Landemard/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“() We also have a very clear self-interest. I hope that we can support Ukraine even more because our economic connections make this stronger,” she said. “And it all works.”
“It’s a very important message to send us that we’re behind Ukraine right now, and we’ll make sure they’re strong enough to say no to bad things,” she added.
But we don’t just watch our European allies watch the deal. Putin also focuses on the mineral trade in the US ukrane.
Putin’s representative reportedly proposed a similar contract with the Trump administration during a meeting in Saudi Arabia last week, saying they could occupy Russian troops, including Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, to ensure that the US access to Ukrainian military minerals that are currently invading Russian troops.
The Trump administration reportedly did not rule out economic deals with Moscow.
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Hoffman said it was Zelensky’s strategic interest to make a deal with Trump to hinder Putin’s strategic goals.
“(Putin) doesn’t want Ukraine to have commercial ties with Europe and the United States,” he said. “That was part of the reason he wanted to set up a puppet regime seen in Russia after he overthrew the central government of Kiev.
“The more links Ukraine has to the west… commercial links, diplomatic and strategic military links… not good for Putin,” Hoffman added.
