The US will soon sign the natural resources agreement with Ukraine, Donald Trump said on Thursday (20), after the postponement caused by the tense meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House at the end of February.

"One of the things we're going to do is sign an agreement very soon with regard to rare earths with Ukraine," Trump said during an event.

Quoted by the Portuguese newspaper BusinessThe agreement will allow the US to receive compensation for the military support given to Ukraine in the conflict with Russia.

The pact provides for Ukraine to contribute half of the revenues from future sales of natural resources, including minerals, oil and natural gas, to a reconstruction fund in partnership with the US.

The White House spokeswoman confirmed that the agreement between Ukraine and the US goes beyond the issue of minerals. "We are now focused on a long-term peace agreement," Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday. "We have progressed from just a framework of an economic agreement on minerals."

The US President's statements come after a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday, in which a possible ceasefire on Russian energy targets was discussed, as was also proposed to Vladimir Putin, in a first step towards a broader truce. Regarding US efforts for peace in Ukraine, Trump said they were going "quite well".

However, the efforts to reach a minerals agreement with Ukraine raise doubts, since the country does not have large reserves of rare earths, notes Bloomberg, but of coal, oil, iron ore, uranium, titanium and magnesium, among others, which could be profitable for the US.

Trump spoke of the minerals deal shortly after he invoked emergency powers to increase US production capacity of critical minerals and also coal to reduce dependence on imports.

(Photo DR)