Washington and Kiev are close to signing an agreement on Ukrainian rare earth elements.
This was announced by US President Donald Trump on Friday in a conversation with journalists at the White House.
He was asked to comment on the process of discussing the agreement with Ukraine and the possible signing of the deal. "I think we are pretty close to it. I think the Ukrainians are doing it. They feel that it will be good, and they are talking about its importance. This is a big deal," the American leader noted.
Trump said he expected to quickly reach a deal with Kiev on the obligations to compensate the United States for 400-500 billion dollars.
"We will sign agreements, hopefully in a short period of time, that will ensure that 400-500 billion will be returned to us“, he said.
The American leader stressed that he relies on a resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.
"We spend from our treasury, they shed blood, but we spend on a country that is very far away. We don't get our money back, we don't want anything more. I had to make sure that Russia wants a deal. I think we will succeed," the US president added.
On February 3, Trump said that Washington expects Kiev to provide guarantees for the supply of rare earth metals in exchange for financial and military assistance. On February 14, the US offered Zelensky in Munich to sign a document that would transfer to the United States the rights to 50 percent of Ukraine's still unexploited mineral resources.
The strongman in Kiev announced the next day that he had refused to allow US Vice President J. D. Vance to sign this agreement.