Ukraine's Zelensky Cautious About Latest Minerals Deal From US

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would not accept any mineral rights deal that threatened its integration with the EU, but said it was too early to pass judgment on a dramatically expanded minerals deal proposed by Washington.

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He told reporters that Kyiv's lawyers needed to review the draft before he could say more about the US offer, a summary of which suggested the US was demanding all of Ukraine's natural resources income for years.

He also said Kyiv would not recognise billions of dollars of past US aid as loans, though he did not say whether such a demand featured in the latest draft version received by a top official.

Mr Zelensky did say, however, that the text was "entirely different" from an earlier framework deal that he had been set to sign with US President Donald Trump before their talks descended into acrimony in February.

"The framework has been changed. Let us study this framework and then we can talk," he told a news conference in Kyiv.

The latest US proposal would require Kyiv to send Washington all profit from a fund controlling Ukrainian resources until Ukraine had repaid all American wartime aid, plus interest, according to a summary reviewed by Reuters.

Mr Zelensky, who has repeatedly stressed the need for strong relations with the US, appeared to be alluding to this last element when he said Kyiv did not view past assistance as something that now needed to be repaid.