Ukraine said on Wednesday it was set to approve a framework minerals deal with the United States but that its success would depend on talks with President Donald Trump.

The deal, under which Kyiv would hand some revenue from its mineral resources to a fund jointly controlled by the U.S., is central to Ukrainian attempts to win strong support from Trump as he seeks a quick end to Russia’s war, with U.S.-Russian talks that have so far excluded Kyiv set to continue on Thursday.

Trump confirmed Zelenskiy would visit Washington on Friday although there was no sign that Kyiv had won the security guarantees it has been seeking as part of the deal, cast by Trump as a payment for U.S. aid to Kyiv during the war.

“This agreement could be part of future security guarantees… an agreement is an agreement, but we need to understand the broader vision,” Zelenskiy said in Kyiv.

He said the most important thing was the current draft did not cast Ukraine as a debtor that would have to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars for past military assistance.

“This deal could be a great success or it could pass quietly. And the big success depends on our conversation with President Trump.”

He said it would be a success if the U.S. becomes a provider of security guarantees for Ukraine, which wants protection from future Russian attacks if a peace deal is reached.

Fighting has continued in Ukraine during the flurry of diplomacy, with Ukraine frequently coming under attack from Russian missiles and drones in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

QUESTIONS OVER WASHINGTON TRIP

Trump said on Tuesday that Zelenskiy wanted to come to Washington on Friday to sign a “very big deal”.

Zelenskiy said both sides were still working on organising the visit and a White House official on Wednesday raised doubts about whether the visit would go ahead, but Trump later said again that Zelenskiy would visit on Friday.

Trump has been fiercely critical of Zelenskiy as he upended U.S. policy on the war, calling him a “dictator” and ending a campaign to isolate Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 12 and a Russian-U.S. meeting took place in Saudi Arabia on February 18.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian and U.S. diplomats would meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss resolving bilateral disputes that are part of a wider dialogue the sides see as crucial to ending the Ukraine war.

Lavrov again ruled out “any options” for European peacekeepers being sent to Ukraine although Trump has said some form of peacekeeping troops are needed in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict is struck.

“Nobody has asked us about this,” Lavrov said during a visit to Qatar.

What are rare earth metals

WHAT ARE THEY?

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements including 15 silvery-white metals called lanthanides, or lanthanoids, plus scandium and yttrium.

WHAT ARE THEY USED FOR?

They are used in a wide range of products including consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), aircraft engines, medical equipment, oil refining, and military applications such as missiles and radar systems

WHAT COUNTRY IS THE BIGGEST PRODUCER?

China accounts for about 60% of global mine production and 90% of processed and permanent magnet output. Beijing sets quotas on output, smelting, and separation, which are closely monitored as a barometer of global supply.

WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES?

In their periodic table order, they are: scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.

WHICH ONES ARE MOST COMMON?

Lanthanum and cerium are among the most common rare earth metals. Lanthanum is used in camera lenses and lighting. Cerium is used in catalytic converters, which reduce combustion engine emissions.

Neodymium and praseodymium are in demand for permanent magnets used in EV motors and wind turbines.

ARE THEY RARE?

They are not rare in the sense that they are uncommon; some are more common than lead, for example. But they tend to be spread thin around the Earth’s crust in small quantities and mixed together or with other minerals, so larger deposits are difficult to find and costly to extract.

WHAT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT DO THEY HAVE?

Processing rare earths often involves the use of solvents, which can produce toxic waste that pollutes the soil, water, and atmosphere. More environmentally friendly technologies are being developed, but they are not yet widely used.

Certain types of rare earth ores also contain radioactive thorium or uranium, which is often removed using acid.

For this reason, development of the sector faces health and environmental regulatory hurdles.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Washington would commit to supporting Kyiv’s efforts to obtain security guarantees under the finalised deal, though the Americans offered no security pledges of their own.

Shmyhal said Ukraine’s government would authorise the agreed wording later on Wednesday so that it could be signed. He described it as a “preliminary” agreement.

“After the Ukrainian president and the U.S. president agree on security guarantees, agree on how we tie this preliminary agreement to security guarantees from the United States for our country, in the presence of (both) presidents, a representative of the Ukrainian government will sign this preliminary agreement,” he said.

In a comment aimed at calming the fears of worried Ukrainians, Shmyhal said Ukraine would never “sign or consider … a colonial treaty that did not take into account the interests of the state.”

A copy of a draft agreement, seen by Reuters and dated February 25, said: “The Government of the United States of America supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”

Shmyhal, outlining the agreement in televised comments, said Kyiv would contribute 50% of “all proceeds received from the future monetisation of all relevant state-owned natural resource assets and relevant infrastructure.”

Those proceeds would go into a fund under the joint control of the United States and Ukraine, he said, adding that no decision about the governance of the fund could be taken without Kyiv’s agreement.

“Already existing deposits, facilities, licenses and rents are not subject to discussion when creating this fund,” he added.