NEW YORK, February 25. /TASS/. The US and Ukraine are close to striking a deal that will provide Washington with a share of Kiev’s revenues from natural resources but will not guarantee Ukraine’s security, the New York Times writes.

According to the newspaper, the new version of the agreement, which was discussed on Monday, offers better terms to Ukraine compared to the previous ones but it still does not include the security guarantees that Kiev seeks. The paper notes, citing White House officials, that "this economic agreement with Ukraine will not be a guarantee of future aid" in a conflict with Russia. According to the New York Times, Vladimir Zelensky may travel to the US to sign the document "this week or next week."

US President Donald Trump stated in early February that the United States was interested in getting access to Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals. On February 12, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent traveled to Kiev to hand the agreement on natural resources over to Zelensky. Even though the latter had expressed readiness to sign the deal, he failed to do so first at a meeting with Bessent and later, when he met with US Vice President JD Vance in Munich.

Zelensky claims that the text he was offered does not mention security guarantees. However, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said on February 21 that Zelensky would sign the agreement with the US in the near future. After that, sources in Zelensky’s office told the Ukrainian media that the document still needed to be finalized, while Zelensky himself announced at a press conference on February 23 that he "does not want" to sign an agreement with the US because, in his words, the next ten generations of Ukrainians would have to pay for that.