MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The Kremlin will refrain from commenting on Vladimir Zelensky's intention to finalize a deal with the US on rare-earth elements until official announcements are made, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated at a briefing.
Reuters previously reported, citing sources, that Zelensky was planning to visit Washington on February 28 for discussions with US President Donald Trump. According to the news agency, the head of the Kiev regime specifically plans to review a proposed agreement regarding the extraction of rare-earth elements in Ukraine.
"No official statements on the matter have been issued thus far. We have only heard that Zelensky is reportedly planning to travel to Washington on Friday, and efforts will likely be made to set a detailed agenda for his visit. We’ll observe whether this will focus on the previously mentioned agreement or other matters," the Kremlin spokesman noted.
"Regarding comments from various sources and media reports, there has been an abundance of them recently, with few being accurate. It’s challenging to base decisions on such information," Peskov remarked.
Deal on rare-earth elements
The Financial Times earlier reported, citing the finalized version of the agreement, that Ukraine and the US administration had settled on the terms of a deal related to natural resources after a provision was removed from the document that required Ukraine to contribute around $500 billion to an investment fund.
The document, dated February 24 and made available to the newspaper, does not include security guarantees for Ukraine, although this had been one of the primary conditions Kiev set for concluding the agreement.
US President Donald Trump indicated in early February that the United States sought access to Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals. On February 12, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent delivered the agreement on natural resources to Zelensky. Despite Zelensky expressing willingness to sign the deal, he failed to do so during his meeting with Bessent, nor later when he met with US Vice President JD Vance in Munich.
Zelensky claimed that the draft presented to him lacked security guarantees. However, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declared on February 21 that Zelensky would sign the agreement with the US soon. Subsequently, sources within Zelensky’s office informed Ukrainian media that the document still required finalization, and Zelensky himself announced at a press conference on February 23 that he "does not want" to sign the agreement with the US because, in his view, future generations of Ukrainians would bear the financial burden.