President Donald Trump‘s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff believes an agreement with Ukraine regarding its rare earth minerals will be signed this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially declined the offer brought to him by U.

President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday they expected that an agreement would be signed this week on U.S. access to Ukraine's critical mineral deposits.

Zelensky said giving the U.S. profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, but he indicated a more equitable deal was in the works.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russia should not necessarily be blamed for sparking the war in Ukraine — a position that aligns with President Donald Trump’s recent strikes against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the three-year anniversary of the fighting looms.

"There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. The president has spoken about this. That didn't need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians," Steve Witko