Ukraine promises swift deal for minerals as Trump cuts Kyiv out of peace talks

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said his country will work “swiftly and very sensibly” on an agreement granting the United States access to its natural resources, in an apparent overture to tamp down tensions that have flared with President Donald Trump over the deal.

Ukraine has focused on strengthening its negotiating position as the United States and Russia open talks on ending the war – with or without Ukraine’s involvement. In a flurry of diplomacy Thursday and Friday, Zelenskyy spoke with a half-dozen leaders in Europe and Canada to shore up other sources of support.

As he did so, however, Trump said in a radio interview Friday that Zelenskyy did not need to participate in talks intended to end the conflict on his soil.

“I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you; he’s been there for three years,” Trump told Brian Kilmeade, a Fox News host, adding that he had been watching Zelenskyy “negotiate with no cards.”

“And you get sick of it,” Trump said. “You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it.”

Ukraine and Russia engaged in direct talks early in the invasion, but since April 2022, they have negotiated only over prisoner-of-war exchanges and to return Ukrainian children from Russia.

The idea of trading natural resources for U.S. assistance was first put forward by Ukraine, but Zelenskyy balked when the U.S. proposal suggested that Ukraine provide access to profits from 50% of the country’s minerals and energy resources. Zelenskyy had also objected that the deal included no U.S. security commitments.

Several aides to Zelenskyy believe that a new version of the agreement under discussion Thursday addresses those concerns and have now advised Zelenskyy to sign it, a person familiar with discussions in the Ukrainian government about the U.S. proposal said Friday. The shift in some Ukrainian officials’ stance on the deal was first reported by Axios.

Talks derailed last week after Zelenskyy declined to immediately sign a version presented to him by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on a visit to Kyiv, the capital.

Trump responded with a broadside against Zelenskyy’s moral standing in the conflict, falsely saying Ukrainian leaders started the all-out war that began in 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy, in turn, said Trump lived in a “web of disinformation.”

But the U.S.’ pressure on Ukraine continued. On Thursday, the U.S. national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that Ukrainian leadership needed “to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal.”

Zelenskyy suggested that talks were progressing in a nightly address to Ukrainians on Thursday, after a meeting in Kyiv with the Trump administration’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Gen. Keith Kellogg, saying it was “a meeting that restores hope.”

He offered no details on a potential natural resources deal, other than to say that “economy and security must always go hand in hand” and that his interest was in securing an enduring agreement with the United States.

The Ukrainian government has simultaneously pursued a flurry of diplomacy with Europe, in hopes that Europe might provide security commitments or military aid to fill gaps if the United States withholds support.

Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials concede that European nations cannot fully replace the full range of military and intelligence assistance the United States provides to Ukraine, but they have been encouraged by discussions of forming a European peacekeeping force to enforce a ceasefire.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy spoke by phone with five European leaders – from France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and Finland – and with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and on Friday with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

In the nine days since Trump opened negotiations with Russia in a phone call with President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 12, Zelenskyy has met or spoken on the phone with European leaders at least nine times. A visit was scheduled for Monday by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

And French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will continue to press Ukraine’s case in planned visits to Washington next week, where they are expected to present to the Trump administration what Europe and the United Kingdom can provide Ukraine and to lay out what is still needed from the United States.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.