According to the preliminary economic agreement, seen by The Associated Press, the U.S. and Ukraine will establish a co-owned, jointly managed investment fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from natural resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials.

Speaking about the rare earths agreement, Trump said the U.S. is lacking in many such minerals while Ukraine has among the best on the planet. He said U.S. interests plan to take those reserves and use them on everything from artificial intelligence operations to military weapons.

Asked about long-term security guarantee to guard against future Russian aggression, Trump says once the agreement is signed that a return to fighting was unlikely.

Trump, a Republican, has framed the emerging agreement as a chance for Kyiv to compensate the U.S. for wartime aid sent under his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.

But Zelenskyy has remained firm that specific assurances for Ukraine’s security must accompany any agreement giving U.S. access to Ukraine’s resources.

This was Zelenskyy’s fifth White House visit, but his previous four came during the Biden administration. The Ukrainian president also was meeting with U.S. senators during his time in Washington.

Fears that Trump could broker a peace deal with Russia that is unfavorable to Ukraine have been amplified by recent precedent-busting actions by his administration. Trump held a lengthy phone call with Putin, and U.S. officials met with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia without inviting European or Ukrainian leaders — both dramatic breaks with previous U.S. policy to isolate Putin over his invasion.

Trump later seemed to falsely blame Ukraine for starting the war, and called Zelenskyy a “dictator” for not holding elections after the end of his regular term last year, though Ukrainian law prohibits elections while martial law is in place.

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