Ukraine says it has reached a “preliminary” deal to hand revenue from some of its critical mineral resources to the US, with preparations under way for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit the White House to sign the agreement on Friday.The announcement followed days of tense negotiations between Washington and Kyiv in which the Ukrainian president alleged the US was pressuring him to sign an earlier deal worth more than $500bn (£395bn) that he said would force 10 generations of his people to pay it back.What are the details of the deal?Donald Trump presented the initial US proposal as a means for Ukraine to repay Washington for military and financial aid since Russia’s 2022 invasion. After it was rejected, a new agreement seen as more accommodating for Kyiv was drafted.The new terms do not include the onerous demand that would have given the US the right to $500bn in potential revenue from exploiting Ukrainian resources, which included oil and gas as well as minerals.“The main thing for me is we are not debtors. There is no $500bn debt in the agreement … because that would be unfair,” Zelenskyy told a news briefing on Wednesday.The deal still does not include references to long-term US security guarantees that Kyiv wanted, to protect a postwar Ukraine from Russian attacks. “This agreement could be part of future security guarantees … an agreement is an agreement, but we need to understand the broader vision,” Zelenskyy said.The Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, described the deal as preliminary, and there was uncertainty as to whether Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington would go ahead.Asked on Tuesday what Ukraine would receive under the deal, Trump said: “$350bn, military equipment and the right to fight on.” He added: “We’ve pretty much negotiated our deal on [rare earths] and various other things. We’ll be looking [at] general security for Ukraine later on.”What are critical minerals?Critical minerals are the metals and other raw materials needed for the production of hi-tech products, particularly those associated with the green energy transition, but also consumer electronics, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and weapons.The rush to tackle climate breakdown and move away from fossil fuels has triggered a scramble for energy transition minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel, which are useful for the electrification of transport and the construction of wind turbines. The same minerals and others are also used for the manufacture of mobile phones, AI datacentres and military assets such as F-35 fighter aircraft, placing them in high demand.As the world’s economy and technology transforms, the value of critical minerals has soared and geopolitical competition for access to them is rising. In 2023, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that the market for energy transition minerals had reached £320bn in 2022, double its value five years earlier. And if countries fully implement their cl
What is the Ukraine minerals deal – and why does Trump want it signed?
