Trump says minerals deal with Kyiv to be signed “very shortly”

Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would sign a minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine soon and that his efforts to achieve a peace deal for the country were going “pretty well” after his talks this week with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. “We’re doing very well with regard to Ukraine and Russia. And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earths with Ukraine,” he said during an event at the White House. A day earlier, the White House had said it had “moved beyond” the idea of taking possession of Ukraine’s mineral wealth as part of negotiations, while Trump told the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the US could own and run Ukrainian nuclear power plants, including Zaporizhzhia power station, as part of a ceasefire.

Zelenskyy on Thursday said he could not legally negotiate ownership of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. “We will not discuss it. We have 15 nuclear power units in operation today. This all belongs to our state” .