NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump confirmed that he will be meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Friday to sign a critical minerals deal.

“President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday, that is now confirmed,” Trump said during his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, adding that he and Zelenskyy will be “signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement.”

The US President further added that his administration is “happy about” the deal, adding, “We’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get our money back and we’re going to get a lot of money in the future, and I think that’s appropriate.”

Trump also made it clear that the United States will not be providing security guarantees to Ukraine as part of an economic deal, instead insisting that Europe should take responsibility for Kyiv’s defense.

“I’m not going to make security guarantees … We’re going to have Europe do that, because Europe is the next-door neighbor,” Trump said.

Instead, Trump emphasised a US-Ukraine partnership focused on access to Ukraine’s vast reserves of rare earth minerals—critical for aerospace, defense, and nuclear industries.

“We very much need rare earth, they have great rare earth,” he said.

Trump framed the agreement as mutually beneficial, stating that US involvement in Ukraine’s resource sector would be a boon for both countries.

“It’s a great deal for Ukraine too, because they get us over there, we are going to be working over there,” he added.

Trump also declared that Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, adding that he plans for a face-to-face discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin, aiming to negotiate an end to the war that began with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

While he did not specify what concessions he would seek from either side, Trump made it clear that Ukraine’s NATO ambitions are off the table. “NATO, you can forget about it,” he said. “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”