Zelensky Headed To DC.
Kyiv, UkraineCNN —
President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, DC in the coming days, after the United States and Ukraine agreed to terms on a deal over natural resources and reconstruction, according to a Ukrainian official.
Negotiations have been ongoing for days over a deal that could grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as part of wider negotiations to end Russia’s invasion, as well as US involvement in a reconstruction fund for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian official said the terms were agreed after “everything unacceptable was taken out of the text and it is now more clearly spelt out how this agreement will contribute to Ukraine’s security and peace.”
By Victoria Butenko, Nick Paton Walsh and Gul Tuysuz, CNN
The Trump Administration is transactional at heart and tends to view every interaction through a business lense and American foreign policy is no different. Ukraine sits on some very valuable minerals that are worth hundreds of billions of dollars and are now very much in play when negotiating an end to the Ukraine War. The extent to which they are willing to sell the minerals remains to be seen but using them as a negotiating tactic could work to its advantage with the Administration.
