This week, Ukraine and the United States may take the first step toward a mineral agreement — they plan to sign a memorandum of intent. In the meantime, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back Russian offensives, and China is supplying Russia with weapons.
Babel collected the most important things from the presidentʼs briefing.
Subsoil agreement with the USA
A memorandum of intent with the US as the first step towards a minerals agreement can be signed online as early as April 17.
According to Zelensky, the American side proposed signing a memorandum of intent before concluding the agreement itself. The Deputy Prime Minister is currently working on the text together with US representatives.
The President says that this is a first positive step. At the same time, he noted that the context of the agreement did not include the use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system. This may be discussed in the future, but not in the context of the Russians using it again.
The issue of Ukrainian territories and intelligence from the US
Ukraine is discussing a ceasefire with the US, but without the issue of territories. According to Zelensky, Trumpʼs special representative Witkoff is not authorized to discuss Ukrainian territories. He is consciously or unconsciously repeating Russian narratives, and according to Zelensky, this is harmful.
If it werenʼt for the US, Ukraine wouldnʼt have seen the emergence of ballistic missiles, which is why, according to the president, everyone was nervous when there was a risk of a long freeze on the transfer of intelligence from the US.
Partial ceasefire with Russia
There have been fewer strikes on the energy sector, but the Russian Federation has not reduced the number of strikes on Ukraine in general and is using the same number of missiles and drones during the partial ceasefire — the Russians have begun to shell civilian infrastructure more.
Every time the Russians attacked the energy sector, Ukraine sent a detailed report to the US. The Ukrainian side also saw a document the Russians sent to the Americans, accusing Kyiv of attacks on Russiaʼs energy sector.
Trumpʼs response to Ukraineʼs desire to buy 10 Patriot systems
Ukraine is ready to buy at least 10 Patriot systems from the United States, and the US President Donald Trump has promised that the US will work on this.
According to Zelensky, there is a shortage of these systems, but the United States, as the holder of the relevant licenses, could guarantee Ukraine Patriot systems. Ukraine considers this as part of security guarantees.
Ukraine is conducting separate dialogues with the Europeans, they will help with financing if the US agrees to sell the systems.
The Ukrainian side is holding various conversations and is looking for these systems everywhere. The Ukrainian side has an understanding of how many Patriots the countries of the Middle East, Europe, as well as the USA and some Asian countries have.
Russian offensives
The Russians advanced in the Pokrovsk direction on April 17. Ukrainian fighters repelled the attack and destroyed 115 units of enemy equipment, 200 occupiers, and another 30 Russians were wounded.
The day before, on the evening of April 16, the Russian Federation tried to advance in the Zaporizhzhia direction, as a result of which the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed 80 Russian soldiers, 40 pieces of equipment, and wounded another 117 occupiers.
Currently, the Russian Federation has concentrated more than 60 thousand soldiers in the Sumy direction. According to the president, Ukraine is not allowing a sufficient number of Russian troops to be concentrated for an offensive in the areas of Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv.
China supplies weapons to Russia
The Russian army receives gunpowder and artillery from the Chinese side — this is information from SBU and intelligence.
In addition, Ukraine believes that China also produces weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian side will be able to provide more details about this next week.
Opportunities of the Ukrainian defense-industrial complex
According to the president, currently the Ukrainian defense industry is about 60% loaded, and there are no funds for the remaining 40%. Zelensky stressed that European military assistance to Ukraine is not enough — if there were enough, the war would have already been ended.
He noted that Europeans could provide Ukraine with more funding directly to the Ukrainian private sector.
"But I wouldnʼt say that we have a big shortage of artillery today. We have it, but we distribute it very correctly. We started producing it ourselves. Itʼs not bad, the Russians are running on the ceiling, as they say, because they are now hitting our factories, and for a reason," Zelensky noted.
The President emphasized that it is now important to close the issue with artillery, and drones are an area where Ukraine can receive more assistance.
"This would have helped us a lot. [...] In reality, 2024 was a very difficult year, but in fact, drones helped a lot. Domestically produced drones, because they became a replacement or alternative in the absence of artillery shells. We had a large production of drones. I said we would make a million or a half, and we made several million. We have serious results. Twice as much as was promised," he summed up.
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