Ukraine takes a backseat at the White House published at 20:12 British Summer Time
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Today's cabinet meeting lasted exactly two hours and three minutes. But we only heard about Ukraine briefly, and at the end, once reporters were able to ask questions. I spend most days at the White House, and recently I've found this to be the case, more often than not. Earlier in the administration, officials were quick to discuss efforts to end the conflict there, and some of them, such as National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, were quick to stop and talk to reporters outside the Oval Office. Some weeks - particularly that in which Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Volodomyr Zelensky all visited - seemed to have been completely dominated by Ukraine news. That has largely stopped, potentially a sign of the administration's growing frustration that it has been unable to stop the fighting despite repeated promises. We still don't know about when any potential signing could take place. But we will hear from Trump at least two more times today - at an investment-focused event this afternoon and at a televised down hall in the evening.
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The latest line from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is that the US is ready to sign the deal if Ukraine is - but let's take a moment to look back at today's developments. A senior source earlier this afternoon told the BBC that Ukraine was ready to sign the deal today and that
economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko was en route to Washington . Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal then said that the fine details were being worked on and he hoped it would be
signed in the next 24 hours . In Washington, the first we heard from the administration was at the end of a cabinet meeting marking the first 100 days of Trump's second term. Bessent responded to a question from the press and indicated that the
US was ready to finalise the agreement after some "last minute changes". President Trump took the opportunity to repeat his familiar criticism of the
previous administration's spending on Ukraine , including figures which various experts and European leaders have debunked.
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Donald Trump was just asked about the Ukraine minerals deal - a question he directed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "Our side is ready to sign this afternoon if they are," Bessent says. According to Bessent, both sides decided to make some "last minute changes" to the agreement last night. It is unclear what those changes are. Bessent adds that that "it's the same agreement that we agreed to on the weekend" and that nothing was removed. Trump is now delivering familiar talking points on the death toll in Ukraine, and his perception that Europe has not contributed enough to Ukraine's defence. "As you know, we're looking for rare earth all the time," he adds, referencing the deal. "They have a lot, and we made a deal, so we can start digging and doing what we have to do. It's also good for them." "Soon, they're going to honour the deal," he says. "We haven't really seen the fruits of that deal yet. I suspect we will."
here .
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Whose idea was the deal? The prospect of a deal was first proposed by President Zelensky last year as a way to offer the US a tangible reason to continue supporting Ukraine. Trump, for his part, has suggested a deal could act as compensation for US military aid given to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Why does Trump want the minerals? Critical minerals are key to renewable energy , military applications and industrial infrastructure and the US wants to reduce dependency on China, which controls 75% of rare earth deposits in the world, according to the Geological Investment Group.
When was the deal agreed? The framework appears to have been broadly ready for a couple of months, and the prospect of a signing has edged closer since February.
Why was it derailed? You probably don't need reminding about the notorious
White House bust-up between Zelensky, Trump and Vice-President Vance in February. The intel suggested the deal would be signed but after a tempestuous clash in front of the media, the Ukrainian delegation left Washington early.
Could it be signed today? It certainly seems to be very close. With Ukraine's deputy prime minister travelling to the US today, the expectation is that it could be hours away. We'll bring you more as soon as we have it. Kyiv, however, wanted to have specific commitments from the US. I've been listening in on Trump's cabinet meeting - and there is so far no indication of any imminent deal between the US and Ukraine. In fact, I've so far not heard any mention of Ukraine at all from the cabinet members, who are going around the room discussing their accomplishments. This is perhaps unsurprising if a deal is still in the works, rather than finalised. Many observers strongly suspect that when it is signed, it will be done with much fanfare, rather that an event in which a wide variety of topics are being covered. There are still, however, several relevant parties - such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio - left to speak. Stay with us for more updates.
What both sides want from the deal published at 17:11 British Summer Time
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What does Trump want? What does Zelensky want? What is a 'critical' mineral? published at 16:56 British Summer Time
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It seems like a straightforward question but there is actually no global definition. A country will assess each of the world's minerals and is generally looking for a) how important is this mineral for our economy and technologies; and, b) how high is the risk of our supply of that mineral being disrupted. If a country relies heavily on other countries to source a particular mineral that could be considered to have a high risk of disruption. The result is that every country has its own list. The US for example has two lists, one focused on minerals for energy technologies and one for the wider economy -
that list has 50 "critical" minerals on it , external . But there is a lot of cross over. For example, cobalt is one that appears on many countries' lists. That's because it's vital for technologies like rechargeable batteries, and more than 50% of the global supply comes from just one country.
Zelensky appears to have secured significant concession from US published at 16:48 British Summer Time
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Ukrainian sources say it’s now up to the White House to determine whether the deal signing takes place, and US officials are yet to comment. A draft of the agreement, seen by the BBC, creates a joint US-Ukraine government investment fund to prospect for critical minerals in Ukraine, and sets out the joint financial arrangements for revenues from it for the two countries. Crucially, the draft says that future American military assistance to Ukraine would count as an investment cost from the American side - in effect partly fulfilling President Trump’s demand for the US to get its “money back” for its weapons support for Ukraine, in the form of profits from future oil, gas and minerals profits. But vitally this does not appear to be backdated to cover the cost of weapons assistance already given to Ukraine; a significant concession compared with previous reported drafts of the deal that president Zelensky was demanding and seems to have got from the White House.
Trump's cabinet meeting is under way published at 16:40 British Summer Time
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US President Donald Trump's cabinet meeting is now under way at the White House. Stay with us as we'll bring you the key lines on Ukraine as we get them. You can also follow Trump's remarks by clicking
w atch live at the top of the page.
Deal progress comes days after Trump's meeting with Zelensky published at 16:24 British Summer Time
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News that Ukraine is ready to sign the long-anticipated minerals deal with the US comes just days after the leaders of the two countries
met at the funeral of Pope Francis . After their face-to-face talk at St Peter's Basilica on Saturday, Trump wrote on social media he feared Vladimir Putin was "tapping me along" after
Moscow's strikes on Kyiv last week , adding there was "no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas". The White House described the 15-minute meeting with Zelensky as "very productive", while the Ukrainian president said it had the "potential to become historic".
Draft seen by BBC outlines objectives of the deal published at 16:12 British Summer Time
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We've just taken a closer look at the draft minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, which is just shy of 3,500 words long. The document is dense with a lot of information packed in, so it will take us some time to get to grips with the full contents of the deal.
No sign of mineral deal so far at the White House published at 15:59 British Summer Time
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Good morning from the White House, where there is so far no sign of any impending minerals deal between the US and Ukraine – although that could change quickly. So far, US officials from both the White House and Treasury have not answered my repeated inquiries about the deal. And just moments ago, one of President Trump’s chief trade advisors, Peter Navarro, gave no indication that the deal would be signed soon. His focus, and that of the media, was largely on GDP figures which show that the US economy shrank in the first quarter of the year. Trump’s cabinet meeting will take place soon, and the press “pool” – the small number of reporters who will be in the room – are likely to ask about that. Any announcement of the deal would be seen as a considerable victory for the administration, which just this week celebrated its 100th day in office to much fanfare.
'We're hoping deal will be signed in the next 24 hours,' Ukraine's PM says published at 15:53 British Summer Time
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has confirmed that Economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko is on her way to the US, adding that he hopes the minerals deal will be signed in the next "24 hours". "We are working on the final details with our American colleagues," he tells national TV. "After that, there will be signing of two more technical agreements, about creation of the fund, its financing and filling." We're reading through the deal so stick with us and we'll bring you the main points from it shortly.
US officials are likely still sorting details of deal signing published at 15:40 British Summer Time
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US officials aren’t answering my calls to confirm whether or not the minerals deal is about to be signed in Washington, as the Ukrainians are saying. That might be telling in itself, suggesting they're still sorting out details. We’ll probably get a clearer steer in the next hour as Trump holds his cabinet meeting at 11:00 EST (16:00 BST), where the press pool will probably lob some questions at him about it. It’s likely Trump wanted to be able to announce a full ceasefire deal by now - some 100 days into his presidency, but that was never about to happen. Instead, the administration has been ratcheting up the pressure to get more progress out of Russia and Ukraine, amid increasing signs of Trump's frustration that he can't move forward in a process far more testing than he anticipated. Last night Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio used his strongest language yet on the threat to walk away from the talks if there isn’t imminent progress. He said it was now time for parties to deliver or the US mediation role would end.
