Trump announced possible signing of Ukraine minerals deal by April 24

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that an agreement with Ukraine for US exploitation of mineral resources could be signed next April 24, according to reports from EFE.

The statement came during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House.

"We have a minerals deal, which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday, next Thursday," Trump said, although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent qualified that the details of the pact are still in process and that the signing could be finalized "around April 25."

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the two countries could sign a memorandum of intent electronically on April 24.

The agreement, according to Bessent, will be based "substantially" on what was previously negotiated between the parties. That framework provided for the creation of a joint investment fund, led by the United States, into which 50% of the profits generated from the exploitation of Ukrainian natural resources would be deposited.

Trump sees this pact as compensation for the multi-billion dollar military support Washington has provided to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

"I assume they’re going to live up to the deal, so we’ll see,”  the Republican president noted.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Yulia Sviridenko, stressed in a message on the social network X that both sides have reached progress toward signing the memorandum.

“A positive new step has been made in the ongoing progress with the United States on the Economic Partnership Agreement and the creation of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

Diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire

In parallel, the United States is seeking to mediate between Ukraine and Russia to achieve a ceasefire, in a complex context.

Trump expressed his hope to receive "this week" a response from Moscow to a US proposal on a cessation of hostilities. "We want the death and the killing to stop," he said, stressing the urgency of stopping the conflict, which he said claims 2,500 lives weekly, mainly of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, are in Paris holding diplomatic meetings with France, the UK, Germany and delegations from Kyiv to address the situation.

As Washington moves forward on signing the mineral deal, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine continue, in the hope of reaching a resolution that would halt the escalating violence in the region.