What we know about US-Ukraine minerals deal
ReutersWashington and Kyiv are moving closer to signing a deal involving Ukraine's mineral deposits, almost two months after President Volodymyr Zelensky first travelled to the US to finalise it - but failed to do so.
Details are still emerging about what the latest version of the agreement would include, but previous leaks suggest it may include control of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, oil and gas, in addition to minerals.
A signed memorandum of intent, published by the Ukrainian government on 18 April, says the countries intend to set up an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine as part of an economic partnership. Kyiv and Washington aim to finalise the text by 26 April, the memo says.
The initial agreement was due to be signed in February, but it was derailed after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Zelensky turned into a public shouting match.
What are the terms of the latest deal?
The memo released on Friday contains broad statements, saying the US and Ukraine "intend to establish a reconstruction investment fund as part of an economic partnership between the two peoples and governments".
It provides no detail as to how this fund would work, nor does it mention the word "minerals" at all.
It also does not include the promise of a security guarantee from the US, something Zelensky has pushed hard for throughout negotiations.
Trump, for his part, has suggested a deal could act as compensation for US military aid given to Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
The memo does not explicitly frame the agreement in this way, but it does make note of the US's "significant financial and material support" for Ukraine.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko acknowledged the text of the final document was still being worked on, but said she expected the deal to be "very beneficial for both countries".
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal previously said the fund would be managed by Kyiv and Washington on "equal terms".
Clues about the agreement might be found in previous leaks, as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the current deal was "substantially what we'd agreed on previously".
"When the president [Zelensky] was here, we had a memorandum of understanding," said Bessent, who signed the memo over a video call with Svyrydenko.
"We went straight to the big deal, and I think it's an 80-page agreement and that's what we'll be signing," he added.
The text prepared in February was never officially shared, but a version was published by Ukrainian media ahead of Zelensky's meeting with Trump.
It envisaged Ukraine contributing 50% of future proceeds from state-owned mineral resources, oil and gas to an investment fund, which would be used "to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine".
It also said the US would "maintain a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine".
Since that draft was published, multiple sources have told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the updated version would be different.
The extent of this change, though, remains unclear.
Disagreement over the terms formed part of a deepening rift between Trump and Zelensky, days before he travelled to Washington to sign it.
The Ukrainian president rejected an initial request from the US for $500bn (£395bn) in mineral wealth, but this demand was dropped from the version published online.
Friday's memo says the final agreement was still being worked out, with Shmyhal due to visit Washington next week to conclude "technical discussions".
Does the deal include a security guarantee?
Zelensky has long called for a deal to include a firm security guarantee from the US.
Friday's signed memo does not promise such a guarantee.
It does, however, say that both the Kyiv and Washington "desire a lasting peace in Ukraine".
The version of the deal published in February says the US "supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees" but does not promise one explicitly.
Trump has suggested the presence of US contractors in Ukraine would act in itself as a security guarantee, but responsibility for Ukraine's security would now fall to Europe.
The US president has previously said Ukraine would get "the right to fight on" in return for access to its minerals.
When will the deal be signed?
Both countries aim to complete discussions by 26 April, with the aim of signing a final deal "as soon as possible", according to the memo.
Trump has said he hopes to sign the deal sooner, by 24 April.
"We have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday... next Thursday. Soon. And I assume they're going to live up to the deal. So we'll see. But we have a deal on that," he said this week.
Trump had previously said he and Zelensky would sign the deal during February's meeting at the White House.
Ukrainian PM Shmyhal said a final version of the agreement had been prepared ahead of that meeting, though Zelensky aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said only a framework agreement was due to be signed.
But nothing at all was signed during the visit, which instead descended into a heated exchange between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office.
At one point, a furious Trump said Zelensky was not grateful enough for the US's support during the war, and that he was "gambling with World War Three".
He said Zelensky had to "make a deal or we're out", adding: "You don't have the cards."
Not long after - and well ahead of schedule - the Ukrainian president was seen leaving the White House.
The White House then announced the deal had not been agreed - and said Trump had decided to call off the signing ceremony himself.
What minerals does Ukraine have?
Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world's "critical raw materials" are in Ukraine.
This includes some 19 million tonnes of proven reserves of graphite, which the Ukrainian Geological Survey state agency says makes the nation "one of the top five leading countries" for the supply of the mineral. Graphite is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.
Ukraine also has significant deposits of titanium and lithium. It says it has substantial amounts of the world's rare earth metals - a group of 17 elements that are used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products vital in the modern world - but these claims are disputed.
Also, some of the country's mineral deposits have been seized by Russia. According to Svyrydenko, resources worth $350bn (£277bn) remain in occupied territories today.
There are warnings too that a deal allowing the US access to Ukraine's vast mineral wealth cannot happen unless the country addresses its problem with unexploded mines.
A quarter of Ukraine's land mass is estimated to be contaminated with landmines, mainly concentrated in the war-torn east of the country.
Another issue is it will be some time before anyone sees any material benefits from the deal.
"These resources aren't in a port or warehouse; they must be developed," Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former minister and head of Kyiv school of economics, told the BBC.
How has Russia reacted?
Before the deal was supposed to be signed in February, Vladimir Putin told state TV he was ready to "offer" resources to American partners in joint projects, including mining in Russia's "new territories" - a reference to parts of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia since its full-scale invasion three years ago.
Putin said a potential US-Ukraine deal on rare minerals was not a concern and that Russia "undoubtedly have, I want to emphasise, significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine".
"As for the new territories, it's the same. We are ready to attract foreign partners to the so-called new, to our historical territories, which have returned to the Russian Federation," he added.