After the unedifying spectacle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting at the White House with US President Donald J. Trump, the Ukrainian leader agreed to sign the vital minerals deal with the Trump administration as an important step to ending three years of bloodshed.
One of the main purposes of Zelensky's visit to the White House -- his first since Trump began his second term as president -- was to sign a deal allowing the US greater access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, which the Trump administration believes is an important first step in its efforts to end the Ukraine conflict.
Under the terms of a preliminary agreement reached between Kyiv and the Trump administration prior to Zelensky's arrival in Washington, the two countries had agreed to set up a joint "investment fund" to finance Ukraine's reconstruction once hostilities with Russia had ended.
According to the deal, Ukraine would contribute 50 percent of future proceeds from state-owned mineral resources, oil and gas to the fund, and the fund would then invest "to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine".
The US involvement means that Washington would be committed to "maintain a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine".
The final details of the deal before the meeting had been negotiated after Trump had previously demanded that Ukraine pay the $500 billion in minerals wealth as compensation for the $350 billion in aid Washington has given Kyiv to support its war against Russia.
Trump dropped that demand, but the agreement's failure also to provide Ukraine with a US-backed security guarantee if a peace agreement was reached with Russia is now understood to have been a key factor in Zelensky's disastrous meeting with the American president.
As Zelensky told Fox News shortly after his White House visit had been cut short without the minerals deal being signed, the Ukrainian leader was reluctant to enter peace talks with Russia until it had security guarantees from the US to prevent any future acts of Russian aggression.
"It's so sensitive for our people," Zelensky said. "And they just want to hear that America [is] on our side, that America will stay with us. Not with Russia, with us. That's it."
Trump has ruled out providing security guarantees on the grounds that, if the minerals deal goes ahead, no country was likely to threaten the welfare of Americans working in Ukraine. Trump did not rule out considering US assistance to a European military force should that eventuality become necessary.
Trump responded to Zelensky's failure to sign the deal by suspending US support for the Ukrainian war effort, a move that could have serious implications for the Ukraine's military, which relies heavily on the US to provide effective air-defence missiles and long-range missiles.
Trump clearly believes that it is important for him to take a tough line with Zelensky, to demonstrate to Moscow that he is acting as an "honest broker" to end the war and bring Putin to the table for a serious negotiation. If the US leader is seen to be too accommodating to Ukraine, then this will simply confirm Putin's long-held suspicion that the US and its allies -- including Ukraine -- are working to undermine the Russian state.
There have also been suggestions that one of the reasons Zelensky's meeting with Trump ended so disastrously is that, prior to visiting the White House, the Ukrainian leader met with prominent anti-Trump Democrats who advised him to reject the terms of the mineral deal.
In a post on X that appeared shortly before Zelensky travelled to the White House, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) boasted:
"Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine."
Trump was also apparently angered by Zelensky's suggestion that the Ukraine conflict was unlikely to end in the near future.
"This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In such circumstances, therefore, it should presumably be a relief, especially for Ukraine, that Zelensky had reached out to repair relations with Trump and demonstrate that he is serious about negotiating a deal to end the conflict with Russia.
In this context, he has offered to sign the proposed minerals deal, which would commit the US at the very least to supporting Ukraine's post-war reconstruction effort and help to develop its resources.
Such a move should send a clear signal to Moscow that, despite the very public spat between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office, the Trump administration remains committed to Ukraine remaining a free and sovereign state that is not constantly subjected to acts of Russian aggression.
Certainly, any deal that does not send a clear message to Moscow that the US will not tolerate any further provocative acts by Moscow will simply be seen as Washington punishing the victim in the Ukraine conflict -- Zelensky -- while rewarding the aggressor -- Putin.
Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
Edward C. Stengel