section_path: Negotiation process
section_name: Negotiation process
paragraph_text: Negotiation process
  
  According to a 27 February The Kyiv Independent article, French Defense Minister Lecornu had been in talks with Ukraine since the fall of 2024 on Ukraine's rare earth minerals, following Zelenskyy's 16 October 2024 victory plan proposal. Cornu clarified that it was not Trump, but Zelenskyy and his team who had introduced the issue of the potential of transactional opportunities of natural resources.
  
  A draft of the 25 February proposal entitled "Bilateral Agreement Establishing Terms and Conditions for a Reconstruction Investment Fund" published by CNN, did not provide explicit future security guarantees to Ukraine. Zelenskyy described it as a framework for the 28 February in-person meeting in Washington. The draft proposed a joint-ownership Reconstruction Investment Fund.
  
  The 25 February draft agreement — as reported by Reuters — indicated that U.S. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha were designated to sign the document.
  
  According to The Kyiv Independent, Zelensky's main objective for the 28 February 2025 Oval Office meeting with Trump was to "discuss the deal and a possible inclusion of security guarantees", to call on him to not abandon Ukraine, and to caution him against becoming too close to President Putin. The meeting began well but when Zelenskyy said that Putin was not trustworthy and had previously broken promises to end fighting, Vance rebuked him. Trump said that Putin had never broken an agreement with him. Trump accused Zelenskyy of "killing a very large number of people", "gambling with World War III" and being "very disrespectful to the country, this country that's backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have", and the Ukrainian delegation was asked to leave the White House. With the abrupt ending of the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, the agreement was not signed.
  
  On 2 March at the 2025 London Summit on Ukraine in a meeting with King Charles III, Zelenskyy told the British media that he believed that the relationship between the United States and Ukraine could be restored, and that he would sign the mineral resources deal.