Draft U.S.-Ukraine rare earth minerals deal not one President Zelenskyy would accept, source says

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gives a press conference in Kyiv, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Pool Photo via AP-Tetiana Dzhafarova

KYIV — A draft deal between the U.S. and Ukraine over rare earth minerals and other natural resources is “not the one President Zelenskyy would accept,” according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

“It is a strange offer to try and take from a country that is a victim of war, more than it cost to pay for its defence,” the source told CNN.

The U.S. is trying to gain access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and other resources as part of wider negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. In return, Ukraine has been pushing for security guarantees, with Kyiv not only keen to see the return of lost territory but protection against a possible future Russian invasion.

Ukraine was not invited to talks between the U.S. and Russia in Saudi Arabia and this week Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump have been locked in an escalating war of words.

Trump falsely accused Zelenskyy of starting the Ukraine war while the Ukrainian leader hit back, saying the US president live in a “disinformation space.”

Ukrainians are still trying to negotiate amendments because the current draft “does not foresee any American obligations while Ukraine is expected to provide everything,” the source said.

The source spoke after an official in the Ukrainian Presidential Administration told Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspline that there would be no signing of the agreement on rare earth metals Saturday.

Work had continued on the document “all night” but was held up by the issue of “security guarantees,” Suspline reported.

The continued Ukrainian resistance to signing the deal in its current form comes after days of intense pressure from the Trump administration, whose National Security Advisor Mike Waltz even highlighted the case of an aluminium mine that could meet all the U.S.’s annual needs if refurbished with American investment.

Also on Saturday Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, posted that he had spoken with U.S. Sectetary of State Marco Rubio “to continue the results-oriented Ukraine-U.S. dialogue.

“Ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale aggression, I underscored Ukraine’s strong will to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace—one that will strengthen Ukraine and the U.S.”

Earlier, a U.S. official told CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh the deal between the U.S. and Ukraine over rare earth minerals and other natural resources is “nearly done” but that it was not yet clear how any official signing of a deal might occur.

The U.S. official said Kellogg’s visit had led to “very good meetings sealing this for the President of the U.S.”