Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Ukraine has signed a deal to share revenues from the future sale of minerals and rare earths with the US after months of fraught negotiations. The agreement “signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in announcing it.
Donald Trump said the minerals deal may give US ‘much more’ than Washington spent on Ukraine aid. Speaking over the phone, the US president said: “We made a deal where we get much more in theory than the $350bn.”
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said in a social media update that he spoke with the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas about the Ukraine-EU agenda and the minerals deal signed last night. He said the agreement “marks an important milestone in Ukraine–US strategic partnership aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s economy and security.”
Ukrainian and Russian civil society leaders have called for the unconditional release of thousands of Ukrainian civilians being held in Russian captivity, pushing for world leaders to make it a central part of any peace deal. Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties, which won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, said most of the discussion on ending the conflict, led by Donald Trump’s administration, focused solely on territories and potential security guarantees.
Ukrainian emergency services reported that a Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa killed two people and injured 15 others. AP reported local authorities saying the barrage struck apartment buildings, private homes, a supermarket and a school.
Responding to the Odesa attack, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his call to put more pressure on Russia to stop continuing attacks on Ukraine. Writing on Telegram, he said: “There were also our proposals – at the very least, to refrain from striking civilian infrastructure and to establish lasting silence in the sky, at sea, and on land. Russia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults,” he said.
Donald Trump has approved the first export of American military equipment to Ukraine since assuming the presidency, The Times has reported, following the signing of the long-anticipated minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv. The Trump administration informed the US Congress that it plans to export defence-related products to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS) of $50m or more, the Kyiv Post said.
There is cautious optimism in Kyiv over the terms of the long-discussed US-Ukraine minerals deal, signed on Wednesday, which appear to be more advantageous for Ukraine than most had expected.
Many details are still to be finalised and will be written into a yet-to-be-signed further technical agreement, suggesting that the long saga over the deal may not be quite over. But Ukrainian analysts have noted that Kyiv has apparently been able to extract some major concessions, despite Donald Trump’s repeated claim that Ukraine “has no cards” to play.
“Ukraine held the line. Despite enormous pressure, every overreaching demand from the other side was dropped. The final deal looks fair,” Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, wrote on X.
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