The agreement between the US and Ukraine on rare earths worth 500 billion dollars, blocked last week by Volodymyr Zelensky due to the “strict conditions” imposed by Donald Trump, seems to be one step away from being signed.

Earlier in the evening, first the Financial Times and then a senior Ukrainian official claimed that the two countries had agreed on the terms of the deal.

"The US has removed the unfavorable clauses, there could be a signature in Washington on Friday," the Ukrainian official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The White House was more cautious, explaining in the evening briefing that "there are no significant updates on the agreement on rare earths." But, Bloomberg reports, Trump himself said he had spoken to Zelensky and a possible meeting between the two at the White House could take place on Friday.

Meanwhile , negotiations between the US and Russia, on Ukraine but not only, seem to be moving increasingly towards business.

The Kremlin has highlighted the "vast opportunities" for the extraction of rare earths from the rich Russian subsoil in collaboration with the United States. And a European plan for collaboration with Ukraine on "critical materials" has also emerged, as presented by the European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, Stephane Sejourne, who visited Kiev yesterday.

Between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, stressed, the first step must be "the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis". After that, he added, the two countries will be able to devote themselves to "trade, economic and investment projects".

Among the first sectors that could be taken into consideration is the extraction of rare earths, because "America needs them and we have them in abundance", Peskov said. Yesterday evening, in a TV interview, Putin had launched the idea of attracting American investors, both public and private, precisely for the exploitation of rare earths, stating that Russia has reserves "significantly superior" to Ukraine , from the Murmansk region in the northwest, to the Caucasus in the south, up to the Far East.

The Kremlin says it will take time and patience to rebuild relations with the US after the clash of recent years, but in the meantime it has clearly shown that it appreciates Trump's moves for rapprochement.

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