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The minerals deal between the US and Ukraine has been agreed "in a very Trumpian way".
Ukraine and the United States have agreed on a deal on minerals, according to a version worked out the day before by the negotiating teams. In this way, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been unable to resist pressure from his American counterpart Donald Trump, who did not hesitate to call Zelensky a dictator last week.
A Ukrainian government source told Sky News that Kiev has agreed to the terms of a minerals deal with the US.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin rejects Donald Trump's claims about accepting European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
According to Sky News' Mark Stone, the minerals deal between the US and Ukraine has been agreed "in a very Trumpian way." Stone points out that the deal was reached in less than a week since Donald Trump called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator."
"This was just a moment, and yet now we're in a position where Zelensky needs to be here on Friday. He'll be in the White House in the Oval Office meeting with the man who called him a dictator just a week ago," Stone says.
He explains that Trump entered the negotiations "like a real estate deal with a massively inflated deal and threw it on the table of the Ukrainians."
Stone says that over the course of several days, a better agreement was reached.
"While public diplomacy seems to have taken a backseat, the Ukrainians have certainly backed down under considerable pressure, but they will think they have reached a somewhat better deal," he adds.
According to a Ukrainian government source, Volodymyr Zelensky plans to travel to Washington on Friday to meet Donald Trump.
The source said that the date of the face-to-face meeting was proposed by the American side.
The agreement sets out the conditions for creating a new fund to invest in Ukrainian minerals, rare earth materials and other valuable natural resources.
It no longer contains an initial claim by the United States for the right to $500 billion (£395 billion) in potential resource revenues.
Kiev estimates that about 5% of the world's "critical raw materials" are in Ukraine. It also has significant deposits of rare earth metals which are used to produce weapons, wind turbines and electronics.
Zelensky had previously described the deal at such a high price as a "serious" conversation.
Trump, however, sees the minerals transaction with Ukraine as a fair way to recoup the billions of dollars the United States has given Kiev – through weapons and financial support – to aid its armed forces in their fight against Russia's full-scale invasion over the past three years.
The document also does not provide for a commitment from Washington to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the wake of any ceasefire agreement with Vladimir Putin - something Kiev desperately needs and has been demanding.
More details about the new partnership are expected to be reflected in future discussions.
The two sides "have agreed on a framework agreement on how to create a fund that will be filled with a portion of minerals" and other natural resources, the government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"This is a political step to ensure that revenues from the resources are used for the security and reconstruction of Ukraine," he said.
The fund would consist of American money that would be invested in Ukraine's natural resources, with profits split between Washington and Kiev.
The Financial Times first reported on the agreement. It said the final version of the agreement was dated February 24.
"The minerals agreement is only part of the picture. We have heard many times from the US administration that it is part of a bigger picture," Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister and justice minister who has been leading the negotiations, told the newspaper on Tuesday.
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