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| - Claims of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia actually repeat key parts of a proposed U.S.-Ukraine agreement for sharing revenue from Ukraine's natural assets, including minerals. This agreement is not a peace deal but would bring Americans to Ukraine and give the U.S. a vested interest in peace in the country.
On Feb. 25, 2025, amid reports of an imminent deal between the U.S. and Ukraine about access to Ukrainian minerals, claims (archived) circulated (archived) that Ukraine and Russia had reached a peace deal (archived) in the three-year war in Ukraine.
One X user wrote:
THERE IS IT!!!
PEACE DEAL reached between Russia and Ukraine and Zelensky is flying to the USA to sign the deal made by President Trump.
DETAILS:
- United States gets 50% of the revenue from Ukraine's mineral wealth as repayment for money spent on the war
- No membership to NATO
- Ukraine concedes territory.Liberals... y'all go ahead and start crying but THIS S*** IS OVER!!!!
However, there were no credible reports at the time of this writing of an outright peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. Therefore, we rate this claim as false.
The claims did, however, contain elements of a proposed agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine for access to Ukraine's minerals that may have been mistaken for a peace deal.
At the time of this writing, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to fly to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28 to sign the minerals agreement in person. The Ukrainian government approved the framework for the agreement on Feb. 26. This agreement was not billed as a peace deal but, if agreed upon, could be a stepping stone to a peace deal.
Meanwhile, Russia's President Vladimir Putin also said Russia was open to negotiating U.S. access to minerals within Russia and Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine.
Proposed agreement sets up fund to invest Ukrainian natural asset revenue
On Feb. 26, both Ukrainian and international news outlets reported on a document, titled, "BILATERAL AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR A RECONSTRUCTION INVESTMENT FUND," that they claimed was the mineral agreement. Snopes was seeking confirmation of the authenticity of this text from the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, both listed as signatories.
The key principles of the agreement, which trackd with the text reported above, were outlined by Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in a Facebook post announcing his government's approval of the agreement and were reported by reputable U.S. and international news media.
Essentially, the agreement established the "Reconstruction Investment Fund," into which the Ukrainian government must pay 50% of all revenues "earned from the future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets" and "other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets."
The U.S. and Ukrainian governments would jointly manage the fund, which would make investments to "promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine."
"Natural resource assets" were defined as "deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, and other extractable materials." Ukraine has proven deposits of minerals like graphite and lithium, used in batteries, as well as rare-earth minerals, used to produce modern technology, such as weapons.
While the minerals deal is not directly a peace deal, it could be a stepping stone in that direction. During a cabinet meeting on Feb. 26, Trump said (time-code 32:40):
It's a great deal for Ukraine, too. They get us over there. We are going to be working over there. We'll be on the land in that way. It's automatic security. Nobody will be messing around with our people when we are there. We'll be there in that way.
However, security guarantees remained a sticking point in any potential agreement. Zelenskyy has said this is a major priority for Ukraine in any deal, though the current framework text as reported in the sources above did not include an outright clause to this effect. The Ukrainian president repeated security guarantees as a key goal for Ukraine during his evening address on Feb. 26.
During the Feb. 26 cabinet meeting, Trump said he would not "make security guarantees beyond - very much." Trump also said Ukraine could "forget about" joining NATO, even though Zelenskyy had long sought membership.
Another complicating element was Russia, which NBC reported had also offered the U.S. a deal for access to minerals including from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine. A U.S.-Russia deal could have the opposite effect of the proposed U.S.-Ukraine deal, pushing American interests further from Ukraine.
U.S. and Russian officials were due to meet on Feb. 27, though officials said Ukraine would not be on the agenda.
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