President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a long-sought minerals deal that will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

I don't think anybody's going to play around if we're there with a lot of workers, and having to do with rare earths and other things which we need for our country,' says US president - Anadolu Ajansı

Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the US access to Ukraine’s deposits of rare earth minerals as a chance for Kyiv to pay back the US for aid already sent.