BURSTPresident Trump on Thursday said he expects to sign a minerals agreement with Ukraine in the coming days, weeks after an expected deal signing was called off following a contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We have a minerals deal,” Trump told reporters during a meeting alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office. "Which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday ... next Thursday? Soon.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified that the White House was “still working on the details” of where and when the signing would take place, but that they were “shooting for” around April 26, which is next Saturday.
“It’s substantially what we agreed on previously, the president was here, we had a memorandum of understanding, we went straight to the big deal … and I think it’s an 80 page agreement, and that’s what will be signed,” Bessent said of the contents of the deal.
The update from the White House comes after Zelensky reportedly said that the Kyiv and Washington could sign a memorandum of intent related to the deal as soon as today.
“I assume they’re going to live up to the deal, so we’ll see. But we have a deal on that,” Trump said Thursday.
Visiting with Trump in Washington in late February, Zelensky was expected to sign off on a deal that would give the U.S. access to Kyiv's critical mineral supply in exchange for some protection amid its war with Russia.
Trump called off talks after the two leaders clashed during a meeting in February, arguing Zelensky was “not ready for Peace.” He ordered a pause on U.S. aid going to Ukraine during the three-year-long war, as the Ukrainian leader moved to try and thaw relations.
Last month, the president also signed an executive order seeking to boost production of critical minerals in the U.S. while confirming that the deal with Ukraine was still on track.
Asked how much time Russian President Vladimir Putin has to respond to Trump's proposed ceasefire deal before Moscow faces more tariffs or sanctions, Trump said "we'll see."
"We’ll see what that will be. We’re going to be hearing from them this week. Very shortly, actually. And we'll see," he said. "But we want it to stop. We want the death and the killing to stop."
On Monday, Trump signed executive actions that could lay the groundwork for more tariffs on critical minerals — his latest target amid a growing trade war.