What we know so far

Ukraine says that he has agreed to the terms of an important agreement that would give the United States access to their rare earth mineral deposits.

kyiv expects the agreement, which would give the United States a financial participation in the country, encourages the White House to protect Ukraine if the war with Russia revives after a high fire.

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said an agreement would help US taxpayers “recover their money” for the aid sent to Ukraine throughout the war and give Ukraine “the right to fight” against Russia.

But the Ukrainian president, Zelensky, said that security guarantees of the United States had not yet been agreed, but hoped that the agreement “will lead to other agreements.”

The key details have not yet been made public, but on Wednesday the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys, Shmyhal said that Ukraine and the United States had finished a version of the agreement.

In statements to Ukrainian television, Shmyhal said the preliminary agreement provides that an “investment fund” will be established for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Kyiv and Washington will administer the Fund in “Equal Conditions,” added Prime Minister.

He said that Ukraine would contribute to 50% of the future income of state mineral resources, oil and gas in the background, and that the fund would invest in projects in Ukraine.

The New York Times reported, citing a draft document, which the United States would have the maximum amount of the allowed fund under the law of the United States, but not necessarily everything.

A mineral agreement was at the center of a gap between Trump and Zelensky last week, and the Ukrainian President rejected an initial application of $ 500 billion (£ 395 billion) in revenue of rare minerals.

The media reports say that this demand has been withdrawn since then.

“The provisions of the agreement are much better for Ukraine now,” said a source in the Ukraine government to the BBC.

On Tuesday, Trump said that the United States had given Ukraine between $ 300 billion (£ 237 billion) and $ 350 billion (£ 276 billion) in help, and that he wanted to “recover that money” through a agreement.

BBC verification analysis I did not find evidence For this figure.

Zelensky has been pressing for an agreement to include a firm security guarantee of the United States.

But on Wednesday, the leader of Ukraine said that such a guarantee had been made.

“I wanted to have a prayer for security guarantees for Ukraine, and it is important to be there,” he said.

When the BBC asked him if he would be prepared to get away from the agreement if Trump did not offer the guarantees he wanted, Zelensky said: “I want to find a NATO path or something similar.

“If we do not get security guarantees, we will not have a stop the fire, nothing will work, nothing.”

Despite this, the Ukrainian prime minister, Shmyhal, said Wednesday that the United States supported “Ukraine efforts to obtain security guarantees to build a lasting peace.”

He said that Ukraine would not sign the agreement until Zelensky and Trump “agree the security guarantees” and decide how to “link this preliminary agreement” for a security guarantee of the United States.

Yuri Sak, an advisor to the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, told the BBC the earliest Wednesday: “It makes no sense to sign any agreement in critical minerals if the Russians can reinvate a month after signing the agreement.”

He said they should continue discussions about security guarantees.

Meanwhile, the Vice Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, who has led negotiations, told The Financial Times that the agreement was “part of a larger image.”

The possibility of a mineral agreement was first proposed by Zelensky last year as a way of offering the United States a tangible reason to continue supporting Ukraine.

Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine would obtain “the right to fight” in exchange for access to his minerals, although he has not yet confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

He suggested that the United States continue to supply teams and ammunition to Ukraine “until we have an agreement with Russia.”

He also said that “some form of peace maintenance” in Ukraine would be needed after any peace agreement, in a way that should be “acceptable to all.”

Trump said Monday that Russia was open to accepting European peace forces in Ukraine, but Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Kremlin would not consider this as an option.

Shmyhal said that the United States and Ukraine have prepared a final version of the agreement, which the Ukraine government will authorize to sign Wednesday.

Trump has said that Zelensky will firm the agreement on a visit to Washington on Friday.

Zelensky said it would be “very direct” with Trump asking if the United States would continue to support Ukraine or not.

Kyiv estimates that approximately 5% of the “critical raw materials” in the world are in Ukraine.

This includes about 19 million tons of proven graphite reserves, that the State Agency of the Ukraine Geological Service says that the nation is “one of the five main main countries” for the supply of the mineral. Graphite is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.

Ukraine also has significant deposits of titanium, lithium and rare earth metals, a group of 17 elements that are used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other vital products in the modern world.

Vladimir Putin has not yet addressed the reports that the terms of an agreement between the United States and Ukraine have been agreed.

But on Monday night, he told State TV that he was ready to “offer” resources to US partners in joint projects, including mining in the “new territories” of Russia, a reference to parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia that Russia that Russia He has occupied since he launched a large -scale invasion three years ago.

Putin said that a possible agreement between the United States and Ukraine in rare minerals was not a concern and that Russia “has no doubt, I want to emphasize, significantly more resources of this type than Ukraine.”

“As for the new territories, it is the same. We are ready to attract foreign partners to what new call, our historical territories, who have returned to the Russian Federation,” he added.