The Trump administration is pushing for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hand mineral rights worth $500 billion to the U.S. after Zelensky’s initial rejection of the demand fueled President Trump’s escalating broadsides against Ukraine’s leader.
The White House called Zelensky’s refusal to sign a deal it proposed and his criticism of Trump unacceptable, a day after Zelensky said Trump is living in a “disinformation” bubble and Trump countered by calling Zelensky a dictator.
“They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal,” Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said Thursday of Ukraine’s leadership on Fox News.
Zelensky has said he is open to a deal, but that it needs more work.
The U.S. demands were first presented by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Kyiv last week.
A U.S. Republican lawmaker who met with Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last week described the Ukrainian leader’s account of the interaction with Bessent.
The Ukrainian president told the lawmaker that Bessent pushed the paper across the table and demanded that Zelensky sign it. Zelensky took a quick look and said he would discuss it with his team. Bessent then pushed the paper closer to Zelensky.
“You really need to sign this,” the Treasury secretary said. Zelensky said he was told “people back in Washington” would be very upset if he didn’t. The Ukrainian leader said he took the document but didn’t commit to signing.
The Treasury Department didn’t respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Zelensky didn’t respond to a request for comment, but an aide to the Ukrainian president confirmed Bessent had pressed for a signature. The aide said Zelensky was surprised to be presented with a document to sign without deliberations with his team and expected any multibillion-dollar deal to be signed at a meeting with Trump.
Zelensky has described the initial proposal by the Trump administration as a demand for a share of Ukraine’s natural resources with no security guarantees—Ukraine’s main request—in return.
“That’s not a serious conversation,” Zelensky said Wednesday. “I can’t sell our state.”
Waltz said the proposed deal was “an economic partnership” and “a historic opportunity to have the United States of America co-invest with Ukraine, invest in its economy, invest in its natural resources.”
Ukraine says it has Europe’s largest reserves of titanium, which is used to make alloys for aircraft and naval vessels, and lithium, a key material in batteries.
Ukraine also has deposits of rare earths, essential in certain high-tech industries, including defense and renewable energy. While potentially plentiful, the reserves would require massive investment to develop, even in peacetime, and many are located in areas occupied by Russia.
Zelensky on Wednesday told reporters that the deal shown to him by Bessent had been “unclear,” apart from demanding 50% of a list of Ukrainian natural resources. The Ukrainian leader said he rejected that document but was ready to discuss a deal that also included U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelensky said he was grateful for U.S. aid to Ukraine, which he put at around $100 billion in military and financial support. But he said Trump’s demand for $500 billion worth of minerals in return was excessive.
Still, he has said he is open to working on the proposal and striking a security and economic agreement.
“Ukraine is ready for a strong, effective investment and security agreement with the President of the United States,” Zelensky said in a statement after meeting Thursday with Trump’s Ukraine envoy, retired Lt. Gen Keith Kellogg. “We have proposed the fastest and most constructive way to achieve results.”
In a sign that Moscow may seek to take advantage of the feud, a government-affiliated think tank sent a memo to the Kremlin ahead of U.S.-Russia talks this week that a Western government obtained. It suggested that Russia offer to grant American companies rights to mineral deposits in occupied Ukraine.
Kyiv has relied on the U.S., its main backer, for military equipment and financial support in its three-year campaign to repel Russia’s invasion, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians and razed dozens of cities. Trump has said he wants to end the conflict, and the opening of talks between the U.S. and Russia in Riyadh, without Ukraine’s participation, has heightened tensions between Kyiv and Washington.
The war of words between Zelensky and Trump this week has stirred fears of an outright collapse of U.S. support. In his Fox interview, Waltz said he believed the relationship was reconcilable but that the U.S. should be able to recoup funds spent aiding Ukraine.
“The president said how much he loves the Ukrainian people,” Waltz said. “To say that we are going to change the nature of our aid going forward, I don’t think should offend anyone. The president is ready to drive this war to an end.”
Trump and Zelensky have managed a cordial, if chilly, relationship that has been strained by Trump’s aggressive questioning of U.S. aid for Ukraine.
During his first presidency, Trump’s efforts to pressure Zelensky in return for political favors backfired and created scandal. Shortly after Zelensky was elected, Trump told him in a phone call that he wanted “a favor” from him: a commitment to investigate Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate at time, and his son, Hunter Biden.
Trump also held up $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to force Zelensky into compliance, but released it after a whistleblower complained about the conduct of his phone call. After events became public, Congress started impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Zelensky kept his distance from Trump during the Biden presidency, but met with him last year at Trump Tower during the presidential campaign. Afterward they sparred gently in a joint appearance on Fox News. Trump repeated that he thought he could end the war quickly, while Zelensky made it clear that Russian troops needed to be pushed out of Ukraine.
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