Trump says Putin will have to make concessions, US won't make Ukraine guarantees 'beyond very much'
KYIV and LONDON -- President Donald Trump said he will not make any security guarantees to Ukraine "beyond very much," as the United States eyes signing a minerals deal with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Western security guarantees are necessary for a ceasefire in the war with Russia.
When asked during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday what security guarantees he's willing to make, Trump responded: "I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We're going to have Europe do that."
"We're talking about Europe is the next-door neighbor," he continued. "But we're going to make sure everything goes well."
Trump announced he will be signing the minerals deal with Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday and said his administration is "happy" with the deal. He has said that some access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals would be necessary to secure a deal involving the nation's continued support for Ukraine.
On the end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said he is confident about being able to reach a deal with Russia that could end the conflict and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will have to make concessions, though Trump didn't go into detail on what those might be.
Senior Russian and U.S. diplomats are expected to hold talks again on Thursday in Istanbul, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Zelenskyy stresses future security guarantees
Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv earlier on Wednesday that Ukraine has been working on a "preliminary framework" for a minerals-sharing deal with the U.S., but again warned that no agreement can succeed without sufficient Western security guarantees.
"Without future security guarantees, we will not have a real ceasefire," Zelenskyy said. "And if we don't have it, nothing will work. Nothing will work."
Zelenskyy told ABC News that Trump will face a "lot [of] challenges" with Putin. "It is very difficult really. I understand President Trump wants to do it quickly."
"But this is not dialogue with somebody," Zelenskyy added. "He will have a lot of challenges with Putin, because he doesn't want to end the war."
"The most important is to end the war yesterday," the president continued. "We need to focus to get peace without any possibility to get back to the war. That is why we are focusing on just peace and lasting. This is more important than weeks. Of course we want within days."
Zelensky also said he is ready to be "flexible" about security guarantees, suggesting the U.S. didn't need to be at the center of them but could contribute alongside other countries. The president added that he wants to ask Trump if the U.S. might stop American military aid in the future. For now, he said, there is no freeze in aid.
Zelenskyy stressed that any minerals deal cannot put Ukraine in debt for previous wartime American grants. That would open a "Pandora's box," he said, allowing other nations to demand repayments.
Details of the deal
The countries agreed to a deal relating to critical minerals and other resources, a senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday.
Details of the deal appear to suggest Kyiv has succeeded in significantly improving the terms, perhaps staring down some of the Trump administration's more onerous demands.
The $500 billion demanded by Trump no longer features in the deal, and the fund that Ukraine will pay into is also no longer going to be 100% U.S.-owned, according to the full text of the agreement obtained by ABC News.
Ukraine agreed to contribute 50% of all revenue from its natural resources to a fund jointly owned by Ukraine and the U.S., according to the deal. The natural resource assets include those directly or indirectly owned by the Ukrainian government and are defined as "deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas and other extractable materials, and other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquified natural gas terminals and port infrastructure)."
"Contributions made to the Fund will be reinvested at least annually in Ukraine to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine, to be further defined in the Fund Agreement," the deal states.
When asked earlier Wednesday by ABC News' Rachel Scott if Trump has spoken with Zelenskyy and if he's signed off on the minerals deal framework, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is close to securing a deal.
"The critical minerals deal and the rare steel, as President Trump said, is absolutely pivotal. We're very close to the finish line and getting that deal done," Leavitt said. "And the president said yesterday, he'll welcome Zelenskyy to the White House to sign it or to visit if that's what Zelenskyy wants to do."
A Ukrainian official who described details of the deal to ABC News said the resources that the agreement will apply to are only those not currently contributing to the Ukrainian budget, which means no oil and gas, or likely the majority of the country's mineral resources.
If the final deal remains close to those terms, the deal may actually be quite restricted in real economic terms.
Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, told BBC News that the mineral seems like a "sideshow" and was mostly designed to "keep Mr Trump happy."
"But it is not going to give a lot of money to the U.S., and I don't see it having any materially economic effect for very many years," Bildt told the BBC.
ABC News' Will Gretsky, Hannah Demissie, Rachel Scott and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
