Zelenskyy says US offered Ukraine new version of mineral agreement

ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that the US offered Kyiv a new version of a mineral agreement.

On Sunday, delegations from Ukraine and the US held consultations in the Saudi capital Riyadh, which Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov described as "productive." The two sides held a second round of talks earlier today after a separate meeting between American and Russian delegations on Monday.

Speaking to journalists in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy said that his team informed him about the new agreement proposed by the US, which he described as a “large, comprehensive” deal from the American perspective.

Zelenskyy said he currently does not have the details concerning what the US believes a major minerals deal should look like, expressing that the document will be worked out between both parties.

He later remarked that the deal will be voted on by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, once the two delegations complete their work with regards to the agreement.

The Ukrainian president added that the issue of his country’s nuclear power plants is not included in the agreement.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy discussed the situation surrounding energy supplies to Ukraine and the country’s nuclear power plants during a phone conversation.

According to a White House statement, Trump told Zelenskyy that the US could be helpful in running the plants and that its ownership would be the “best protection.”

Zelenskyy told journalists in a later briefing that he and Trump did discuss the restoration of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and that Ukraine is ready to discuss its modernization. At the same time, he rejected that they discussed the issue of ownership over the plant.