Zelenskyy ready ‘to do a deal’ with Trump on raw earth minerals and military assistance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to meet with Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference later this week after confirming on Friday he is ready to “do a deal” with President Donald Trump.

According to an interview with Reuters, Zelenskyy said he was ready to supply the U.S. with rare-earth minerals in exchange for Washington’s continued backing of its war effort.

“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskyy said. 

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The Ukrainian president has made clear he is also open to engaging in peace talks with Russia to end the three-year-long war, though possible terms for securing a peace deal remain varied and unknown. 

Though Zelenskyy has said he is looking for “guarantees” when it comes to future security assurances for the war-torn country.

These security assurances will likely need to be more than a formal handshake paired with a signed document, as Russia has twice violated its last agreement with Ukraine, known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. 

The deal saw Kyiv hand over its nuclear arsenal to Moscow for dismantlement in exchange for sovereignty and independence guarantees from Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. However, the agreement did not stop Russia from invading Ukraine twice under Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

Zelenskyy apparently first floated the idea of trading Ukraine’s mineral resources – roughly 20% of which are located in now Russian controlled territory, including half of the rare-earth variety – under his “victory plan” first presented to Western allies last fall, reported Reuters. 

Rare-earth materials are used in the production of consumer electronics and electric engines. Zelenskyy has warned that Russia could give these resources to its allies like North Korea and Iran – the latter of which the U.S. just last week began to even more heavily sanction. 

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“We need to stop Putin and protect what we have – a very rich Dnipro region, central Ukraine,” Zelenskyy reportedly said.

While Trump will not attend the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy will lead the Ukrainian delegation there and is reportedly expected to meet with Vance and special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg.

Trump told reporters last week that Zelenskyy may travel to D.C. in the week following the security conference, which runs Feb. 14-16, at which time both presidents will once again meet to discuss the war. 

“I’d like to see that war end,” Trump told reporters last week. “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things.”

Russia’s war effort in eastern Ukraine continues to rage, and Moscow on Friday claimed it had captured the mining town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region despite Ukraine’s months-long attempts to stop Russian advances. 

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As Moscow continues to see incremental gains in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv is also pushing forward with its own attempts to seize Russian territory, which security experts have told Fox News Digital could be an attempt to give it better bargaining leverage come the time for ceasefire talks with Moscow.

Zelenskyy also said on Friday that Ukraine had opened a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv first began its incursion in August 2024.

“In the areas of the Kursk operation, new assaults have taken place,” Zelenskyy said during his nightly address. “Russia has once again deployed North Korean soldiers alongside its troops.”

It is unclear if North Korea has sent more troops to Russia after its initial deployment of as many as 12,000 men last October, though South Korean intelligence has warned Pyongyang is planning to do so.

Zelenskyy Sunday night said Ukrainian troops in Kursk “demonstrate highly effective enemy destruction,” though he did not detail any casualty rates among Russian or North Korean troops. 

“We must hold all our positions firmly,” he said. “The stronger we stand on the front lines, the stronger our diplomacy – our work with partners – will be.”