Axios: The US hands Ukraine ʼimprovedʼ minerals deal

The administration of the US President Donald Trump has handed over to Ukraine an "improved" draft of a minerals agreement.

Axios writes about this with reference to sources.

Sources on both the Ukrainian and American sides say the deal now looks more realistic. According to them, several aides to President Volodymyr Zelensky have encouraged him to sign the updated proposal to avoid further escalation of relations with Trump and allow him to find a “justification” for potential new aid to Kyiv.

Earlier, Donald Trump said he wanted to renew the rare earth minerals deal with Ukraine after Kyiv refused to sign its first version. This "disappointed" the White House.

Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on rare earth metals, but Kyiv needs security guarantees, which were not there.

What kind of agreement are we talking about?

Trump said on February 9 that he has a concrete plan to end the war and wants to make a $500 billion deal with Volodymyr Zelensky for access to rare earth minerals and gas in Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees in a potential peace deal.

The draft agreement was brought to Ukraine by the head of the US Treasury Department, Scott Bessent. Zelensky said that Kyiv was open to partnership on this issue, but he did not sign the agreement on this issue because it did not provide security guarantees for Ukraine.

"The document was clear in only one thing — we must give 50% of everything that is listed there. By the way, we are not afraid of this, and I am ready for the publicity of this document. I told the US Treasury Secretary that this document is not ready. Everything that is written there is beyond my capabilities, beyond my powers, beyond the Constitution of Ukraine and all legislation," the president said.

Later, Zelensky said that the war cost Ukraine $320 billion. Of that, $120 billion was paid by Ukrainian taxpayers, $200 billion by the US and the EU. All of these are weapons packages.

"In general, the US gave us approximately $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in direct financial assistance to the budget. There were some separate programs, there were humanitarian programs, we are grateful. But you canʼt charge us $500 billion and ask us to return $500 billion in minerals, this is a frivolous conversation," Zelensky said.

Whatʼs going on between Trump and Zelensky?

US President Donald Trump, after the American and Russian delegations held their first talks in Saudi Arabia without the participation of Ukrainians and Europeans, claimed that Zelensky had only a 4% approval rating. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published a study showing that as of the first half of February 2025, 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelensky.

The President of Ukraine reacted and said that Trump is in a "circle of disinformation".

Donald Trump later called Zelensky an “unelected dictator” who allegedly persuaded the United States to “spend $350 billion on a war that cannot be won and should never have been started”. Trump said that “Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is ruined” and that he has little time left.

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