A preliminary economic agreement between Ukraine and the United States would ensure long-term U.S. involvement in rebuilding the country, but the deal leaves the question of security guarantees sought by Kyiv to future negotiations.

According to the final version of the deal obtained by The Associated Press, the United States and Ukraine will establish a co-owned and jointly managed investment fund aimed at financing the reconstruction of Ukraine and its war-damaged economy.

The agreement comes after two weeks of back-and-forth between Kyiv and Washington over how the U.S. could gain access to Ukraine's natural resources. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted that specific assurances for Ukrainian security must accompany a deal on those resources.

U.S. President Donald Trump planned to meet with Zelenskyy on Friday at the White House to sign the pact, which will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

Here's more about what the agreement says, and what it doesn't say.

What about security guarantees for Ukraine?

While the preliminary agreement references the importance of Ukraine's security, it leaves that matter to a separate agreement to be discussed between the leaders of the two countries.

According to wording in the deal, the United States “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace," and the U.S. has “a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”

“Participants will seek to identify any necessary steps to protect mutual investments as defined in the Fund agreement,” it states. "The American people desire to invest alongside Ukraine in a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine.”

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said his country “needs to know first where the United States stands on its continued military support.” He said he expects to have a wide-ranging conversation with Trump during his visit to Washington.

The economic agreement "may be part of future security guarantees, but I want to understand the broader vision. What awaits Ukraine?” Zelenskyy said.

A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told the AP on Wednesday that those discussions would take place independently from the establishment of the joint fund.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said Kyiv believes the establishment of the fund would itself serve to bolster Ukraine’s security since U.S. and Ukrainian investments would need to be protected amid continuing Russian attacks.

How does the agreement work?

Under the agreement, Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues to the joint fund from national assets including minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas and other extractable materials. Kyiv has hoped that access to those materials would incentivize the Trump administration to help secure a fair and lasting end to the war.

The idea to involve the U.S. in Ukraine’s natural resource wealth was initially proposed last fall by Zelenskyy as part of his plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.

Ukraine would also contribute half of its revenues from infrastructure relevant to the extraction, processing or transportation of its natural resources, but those contributions would not apply to assets that are already part of the Ukrainian government’s budget revenue, such as state-owned oil and gas companies.

Contributions to the fund will be reinvested annually in Ukraine to promote its “safety, security and prosperity,” the agreement says.

Is Ukraine giving away its natural resources?

The agreement states that revenues from its natural resources will go into the fund and be used for reconstruction of the country, not that ownership or control of those resources would be transferred to the United States.

On Wednesday, a senior Ukrainian official told the AP that the U.S. will not own Ukraine's mineral and other resources. The official added that the fund would receive 50% of the revenues that come from natural resource deposits once they’re developed.

Is Ukraine paying off a debt for previous U.S. support?

The deal does away with earlier Trump demands that Ukraine pay $500 billion as compensation for Washington’s assistance until now. The senior Ukrainian official said that contributions to the fund do not constitute a repayment of any debt to the U.S. for its previous support during the war with Russia, but an investment in the future.

The agreement states that the U.S. will maintain a long-term financial commitment to Ukraine’s stability and economic prosperity, and could make further contributions outside the fund in the form of financial instruments and other assets critical for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Ukrainian payments into the fund could provide a mechanism for any future U.S. assistance to be recouped in the long term, the Ukrainian official said.

“We are not debtors,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday, adding that, while he is grateful for previous U.S. support, Ukraine had not entered into any agreements that would require previous U.S. assistance to be repaid.

“There were no such agreements in the past, so there is nothing to discuss in this regard,” he said.

The agreement will also seek to avoid conflict with any obligations Ukraine has to the European Union as it seeks membership in the bloc, or any potential conflicts with obligations to other financial institutions or creditors.

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Ukraine and U.S. close to reaching mineral deal, but Zelenskyy says he wants security guarantees

Ukraine and the U.S. have outlined an agreement in which they would jointly fund Ukraine’s future security and reconstruction using an investment fund powered by the country’s rare earth minerals, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

However Zelenskyy said the deal would fail if it did not adequately provide for Ukraine’s future security against Russia — and only looked after American interests.

“If I see and hear a broader vision from him [President Donald Trump] — one that aligns with our concept of a just peace for Ukraine — then this agreement can be part of broader security guarantees," Zelenskyy told a news conference.

Whereas his prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, appeared to offer concrete details at an earlier news conference of how the agreement would be signed and implemented, Zelenskyy was far less equivocal in his account of events.

"This agreement could be a major success, or it could pass quietly," he said. "The key factor will be my conversation with President Trump," which Trump said is set for Friday, though Zelenskyy indicated that no final decision about timing had been made. Zelenskyy also said he had “not yet seen the full, final version” but would be reviewing it soon.

Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House later Wednesday that Zelenskyy would be traveling to the U.S. on Friday, adding that the two would sign “a very big agreement.”

The Ukrainian president also gave a far more measured view than that of a senior White House official involved in negotiations, who told NBC News late Tuesday that the agreement was "at the 99 yard line with one inch to go."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday morning that negotiators were "very close to the finish line," and said, "We expect the deal to be signed this week."

"And as President Trump said yesterday, if Zelenskyy wants to come to this White House to sign that deal, he is open to that," she added.

Speaking about the deal and security guarantees for Ukraine, Trump said at his Cabinet meeting Wednesday, "I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We’re going to have Europe do that ... Europe is the next-door neighbor, but we’re going to make sure everything goes well. And as you know ... we’ll be really partnering with Ukraine, [in] terms of rare earth. We very much need rare earth. They have great rare earth."

Relations between Ukraine and its American benefactor have soured over the past week. Trump sparked outrage in Ukraine and Europe by suggesting that Ukraine should use its mineral wealth to pay back the U.S. for military aid delivered during the war.

When Zelenskyy outright rejected the suggestion, Trump falsely called him a "dictator" and repeated the false claim that Ukraine was responsible for being invaded by Russia.

The deal detailed by Zelenskyy and his administration Wednesday appeared to find compromise on some of the disagreements, but also left much up in the air.

The U.S. and Ukraine have outlined their intention to establish an investment fund, drawing money from as-yet untapped seams of Ukraine's wealth of rare earth minerals. Both countries would then use this fund to invest in Ukraine's reconstruction and security, Shmyhal said in an earlier address.

However, Zelenskyy said that the exact nature of these security guarantees — the central priority for Ukraine — were still unclear.

"Although this agreement is economic, I strongly advocated for at least some mention of security guarantees for Ukraine," he said. "Government officials briefed me that security guarantees were included in the agreement in some form, but I don’t yet have full details."

Another key point for Zelenskyy is that Ukraine's critical and rare earth minerals will not be used to pay back the U.S. for military and humanitarian assistance provided so far. The fund would only include new mineral deposit licenses, rather than existing operations, and all profits would be split evenly, the Ukrainian president said.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the multibillion-dollar assistance given to Kyiv under then-President Joe Biden. He says these costs should be underwritten by European powers, on whose doorstep the conflict sits.

Trump has said he'll resolve within 24 hours Russia's three-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The president and his aides since extended this timeline to six months. The senior administration official said Tuesday that a peace deal was 30-60 days away, without elaborating on how this ambitious timeline would be achieved.

Trump said Wednesday at the White House that peace between the two countries was not guaranteed. "You have a lot of confidence in us because you assume there's going to be peace. You know, it's possible it doesn't work out," he said. "There is a possibility, but I hope it does for the sake of humanity."

Ukraine has for months supported the idea of giving Trump access to its wealth of critical rare earth elements, which are used for everything from green technology to modern weaponry. Zelenskyy hoped this would incentivize the White House to continue supporting Kyiv with military aid, something Trump has questioned in the past.

In a likely appeal to Trump’s transactional deal-maker spirit, Russia simultaneously proposed an agreement under which the U.S. would gain some ownership of rare earth minerals and other valuable metals in parts of Ukraine controlled by the Russian military, according to two American officials familiar with intelligence on the matter and another person briefed on the proposal.

Russian and American officials are expected to hold a technical-level meeting on Thursday in Istanbul, according to the Turkish Communications Directorate.

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