In just two weeks, Donald Trump has gone from calling Vladimir Putin to making statements about the “dictator” of Ukraine and from announcing the rare earth deal to signing it today at the White House.
The Ukrainian deal moved quickly after Trump took office, and it remains to be seen whether we will see a ceasefire in the coming months.
Bolodimir Zelenski is expected to arrive at the White House at 11:00 (local time, 18:00 in Greece), where he will be met by the US president.
The meeting between the two men will be followed by a lunch, part of which will be open to journalists.
Shortly afterwards, at 13:00 (20:00 in Greece), the two leaders will hold a joint press conference where the landscape regarding the deal is expected to clear up.
As far as we know so far, the Ukrainian mineral deal allows the US to exploit Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth but does not include security guarantees to Kiev, something Ukraine has been persistently demanding but from which it seems to have backed down.
Fox, which says it has obtained a copy of the agreement, says the deal is structured to return on US taxpayer investment by sharing revenues from the development of rare earths as well as energy resources such as oil and gas.
Revenue sharing from infrastructure projects and data centers is also planned.
Media reports said that Ukraine would pay 50% of “all revenues generated from the future exploitation of all associated natural resources owned by the Ukrainian government” to the reconstruction fund, which would be jointly owned and managed by the US and Ukraine. The agreement does not name those resources but describes them as including metals, oil, gas, and other minerals, as well as infrastructure such as LNG terminals and ports.
Washington will get back some of the billions of dollars in equipment it has provided to Kiev through a reconstruction investment fund that will collect the proceeds from the sale of Ukrainian rare earths. And Washington appears to have backed away from its initial demand for the $500 billion of the profits.
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