World
Trump Ties Himself to Future of Ukraine With Minerals Deal
The minerals deal signed by the United States and Ukraine on Wednesday could bring untold money into a joint investment fund between the two countries that would help rebuild Ukraine whenever the war with Russia ends.
But Ukraine’s untapped resources that are the subject of the deal will take years to extract and yield profits. And those could fail to deliver the kind of wealth that President Trump has long said they would.
It is not yet clear how the nine-page deal, the text of which Ukraine’s government made public on Thursday, will work in practice. Many specifics need to be worked out, but the deal will set up an investment fund, jointly managed by Kyiv and Washington.
Although the Trump administration had wanted Kyiv to use its mineral wealth to repay past U.S. military assistance, the final text removes the idea of treating that aid as debt. The deal also seemed to specifically keep the door open for Ukraine to eventually join the European Union, a move that neither the United States nor Russia has opposed.
There was no mention of a security guarantee — which Ukraine had long sought to prevent Russia from regrouping after any cease-fire. But the deal does mean that the United States could send more military aid to Ukraine if a peace deal is not reached.
The much-anticipated signing of the agreement has almost certainly accomplished one thing that seemed almost impossible two months ago: It has tied Mr. Trump to Ukraine’s future.
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in announcing the agreement on Wednesday.
Analysts agreed on Thursday that the deal could guarantee Mr. Trump’s interest in Ukraine now that he is publicly invested.
“He’s a businessman — he always does the math,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, a leading political analyst in Kyiv. “His business mind-set shapes his approach to politics. So his motivation in the agreement could help maintain U.S. interest in Ukraine. How this will work out in practice, only time will tell.”
Ukraine’s Parliament still has to ratify the agreement, which will probably happen in the next 10 days, officials said on Thursday.
In the end, it appears that Ukraine managed to get some of what it wanted, but not everything. The notable omission was the absence of a security guarantee.
“The agreement has changed significantly,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a social-media post on Thursday evening. He added, “Now it is a truly equal agreement that creates an opportunity for investments in Ukraine.”
The investment fund will be financed with revenues from new projects in critical minerals, oil and gas — and not from projects that are already operating. In theory, it would be a 50-50 partnership in which Ukraine and the United States each would put the same amount into the fund and run it equally.
Anna Skorokhod, a Ukrainian Parliament member from an opposition political party, said she was briefed about the deal at a government meeting on Thursday. Ms. Skorokhod said she was told the Americans would put money into the fund — and the equivalent dollar amount of what any future military aid to Ukraine would cost.
The Ukrainians will put money into the fund from mining licenses issued for investors and royalties from the mineral resources developed under the deal. Half of that money will go into the Ukrainian budget; half will go into the joint investment fund. Senior Ukrainian officials confirmed that understanding.
Ms. Skorokhod said she was hesitant to support the deal because it lacked specifics. “It looks good, but we don’t know if it’s true or it’s a fairy tale for us to vote,” she said.
The fund would be established by both governments and managed by a limited-liability company formed in Delaware and run by three Ukrainians and three Americans, Ms. Skorokhod said. Profits would go to rebuild Ukraine after the war for the first 10 years; after that, it’s not clear what would happen with the profits.
The final terms will be detailed in future agreements.
The signing of the deal on Mr. Trump’s 100th day in office was the latest twist in his ever-shifting approach to the war, which Russia started with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr. Trump has falsely blamed Kyiv for instigating the war and seemed to find more of a kinship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia than with anyone in Ukraine. He has repeatedly questioned why the United States became Kyiv’s biggest ally under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. And he has made no secret of his irritation with Mr. Zelensky and Kyiv’s requests for more military assistance.
The nadir of the relationship between Ukraine and the United States came on Feb. 28, when Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump were initially expected to sign a profit-sharing minerals deal in the Oval Office. The meeting was a disaster. Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly castigated Mr. Zelensky, who was abruptly asked to leave the White House. In the fallout, the Trump administration temporarily suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
But Mr. Trump has also repeatedly said he wants to end the war, even campaigning on the promise he would do so in 24 hours. He has since said he was not being literal.
As the Trump administration has pressured both Russia and Ukraine to agree to a peace deal — or at the least, a 30-day cease-fire — Ukraine has tried to look like the reasonable party. Mr. Zelensky, who has worked to smooth relations with the Trump administration after the Oval Office debacle, immediately agreed to the idea of an unconditional 30-day truce; Mr. Putin did not.
Still, for Ukraine, the minerals deal offered an opportunity for some leverage, even as critics described it as extortion.
The Ukrainian government initially highlighted the country’s mineral holdings to the Trump administration, hoping to draw some investment and to help solidify the relationship between the two countries.
Ukrainian officials say the country holds deposits of more than 20 critical minerals; one consulting firm valued them at several trillion dollars. But the minerals may not be easy to extract, and the Soviet-era maps identifying the locations of the critical deposits have never been modernized nor necessarily thoroughly vetted.
Kyiv had desperately wanted the deal to include some kind of security guarantee from the United States. Without one, officials feared, Russia could violate any cease-fire — which Moscow has done before.
Mr. Trump, though, has said that having a joint investment fund with the United States would be a security guarantee in its own right — that if U.S. companies and the U.S. government were invested in Ukraine’s future, that alone will deter Russia.
In many ways, despite all the back-and-forth, the deal signed on Wednesday with little fanfare resembled the one that fell apart in February.
Reaction to the deal was mixed in Ukraine on Thursday.
Vira Zhdan, 36, who lives in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, which frequently comes under Russian attack, said the deal could unfairly siphon off money from Ukrainian resources to U.S. investors.
“These are snares that tighten around us and drag our country into a deeper and deeper pit,” she said. “We live here and now, but it will be our descendants who have to deal with the consequences. This will, undoubtedly, leave a significant mark on them.”
But Svitlana Mahmudova-Bardadyn, 46, who lives in the Sumy region near the border with Russia, said she hoped the deal meant Ukraine would receive more U.S. support — like weapons. She also said she hoped “that this full-scale war will finally end, that things will get better for us.”
That all remained to be seen on Thursday, with the text of the agreement vague and Ukrainian officials staying mum on any promises that might have been made.
Instead, the deal’s language referred to “an expression of a broader, long-term strategic alignment” between the two countries, “a tangible demonstration of the United States of America’s support” for Ukraine’s security and reconstruction. And it made it clear who would not stand to gain.
The agreement says the United States and Ukraine want to ensure that countries “that have acted adversely to Ukraine in the conflict do not benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine” once peace is reached — in other words, Russia.
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting.
World
Australian authorities: Bondi Beach shooting was ‘terrorism … designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community’
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A mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday evening left at least 12 people dead and 29 people hospitalized, authorities say.
The annual celebration, known as “Chanukah By The Sea,” was scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m. to celebrate the first day of the Jewish holiday by lighting the first candle on the Menorah. Police say the attack “targeted” the Jewish community and is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
The New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) said officers responded to reports of shots fired at about 6:45 p.m. on Sunday. Police say there were at least two gunmen involved in the attack, and they are investigating the possibility of a third. Twelve people were killed in the shooting, including one of the two suspected gunmen, police said. The second alleged shooter is in critical condition.
At least 29 others were hospitalized after the shooting, including two police officers, the agency confirmed. The shooting is the worst attack against Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.
ANTISEMITIC ATTACKERS VIOLENTLY TARGET SYNAGOGUE, ISRAELI RESTAURANT IN AUSTRALIA
An investigation is underway after a deadly attack on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
Police added that they found evidence of multiple improvised explosive devices in a vehicle near the scene of the attack.
“We have our rescue bomb disposal unit there at the moment working on that,” he said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog acknowledged the attack while speaking at an event in Jerusalem recognizing immigrants’ extraordinary achievements on Sunday.
“At these very moments, our sisters and brothers in Sydney, Australia, have been attacked by vile terrorists in a very cruel attack on Jews who went to light the first candle of Chanukah on Bondi Beach,” Herzog said. “Our hearts go out to them. The heart of the entire nation of Israel misses a beat at this very moment, as we pray for the recovery of the wounded, we pray for them and we pray for those who lost their lives.”
AUSTRALIA’S JEWISH COMMUNITY ALARMED BY RISING ANTISEMITISM: ‘FEAR AND ANXIETY’
A health worker moves a stretcher after a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 14, 2025. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)
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Herzog also called on the Australian government to “seek action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”
Khartoum, Sudan – Iman Abdel-Azim had to bury her brother in the courtyard of her home in Khartoum North when he died as fighting between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces raged around them.
Her brother died of cholera in September last year, unable to access medical care.
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Her neighbours had to help her bury him because it was impossible to access cemeteries during the fighting. She was not the only resident of the capital region’s three cities – Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman – who had to do this.
After Khartoum State announced at the beginning of December a major effort to exhume the remains of people buried in this makeshift manner and move them to cemeteries, Abdel-Azim feels her grief has been renewed as she relives the pain of losing a loved one.
Organised campaign
State and local committees were formed to implement the exhumations. They are made up of representatives from forensic medicine, Civil Defence, the Sudanese Red Crescent, and neighbourhood management and services committees.
Ahmed Abdel Rahman, executive director of Khartoum North, told Al Jazeera that the campaign aims to alleviate the psychological burden on families and improve the health and humanitarian situation in the capital region.
According to Abdel Rahman, the campaign is being overseen by the High Committee for Collecting the Remains of Those Who Died During the Battle of Dignity.
The process will unfold in stages, the first of which is identifying makeshift burial sites.
After that, families are notified and allowed to nominate a representative to be involved in every step, from exhumation to burial.
Forensic medicine specialists will supervise the exhumations and reburials in cemeteries with full documentation of the remains.
The process of transferring these remains began as early as when the Sudanese army took control of Khartoum State, Hisham Zain al-Abidin, director of the Forensic Medicine Authority in Khartoum State, explained to Al Jazeera.
He affirmed that by the first quarter of 2026, Khartoum and its seven districts would be free of any makeshift graves.
However, he added, the field teams responsible for the exhumations and reburials are facing a number of challenges, including a shortage of body bags, “which could affect the work being carried out as required”.
Sabotage
According to Zain al-Abidin, the Rapid Support Forces sabotaged the DNA units used to preserve samples from several buried bodies, which has made it difficult to identify many victims.
He said teams are numbering and documenting the burials of unidentified bodies, then burying them in graves specifically for unidentified individuals.
He called on stakeholders, organisations and citizens for help in preparing the graves and stressed that the work ahead is extensive and requires concerted efforts between the government and citizens.
For her part, Shireen Al-Tayeb Nour Al-Daem, vice president of the Steering and Services Committee in the Shambat neighbourhood of North Khartoum, told Al Jazeera that the committee had surveyed graves in homes, mosques and public squares in several neighbourhoods as a preliminary step before the arrival of medical teams and the commencement of exhumations and transfers of bodies.
Nour Al-Daem said the committee informs victims’ families to attend and follow up on the official procedures with the legal and medical teams until the transfers and burials are completed.
The committee is working on identifying and surveying the locations of makeshift graves, collecting data and communicating with families, Nour Al-Daem said, urging citizens to report the locations of makeshift graves so field teams can access them.
When teams arrive to undertake the exhumations and reburials, the committee will also undertake the logistics and support for those teams. This includes coordinating between the field teams and the families of the deceased to ensure the presence of the family or a representative.
If no relatives of the deceased are present, she added, the High Committee has instructed that the exhumation be halted.
She indicated that the country needs further efforts to complete reconstruction and rebuilding and what the committees are doing “paves the way for a safe environment for the return of citizens” despite the difficulty of people experiencing a second farewell to their loved ones.
The streets of Khartoum are also filled with bodies that have not yet been buried, some of which have decomposed, representing a challenge to identify them and dangers to public health.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Blake Horvath to Eli Heidenreich.
That’s the connection that led Navy to such a memorable season — and the two of them came through again on the biggest play of the biggest game.
Horvath threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Heidenreich with 6:32 remaining — on fourth-and-goal — and No. 22 Navy rallied to beat Army 17-16 on Saturday. Heidenreich, the career and single-season leader in yards receiving for the Midshipmen, caught six of Horvath’s seven completions on the day.
“Who wouldn’t go to him?” Horvath said. “Talk about an all-time Navy legend. You’re going to be talking about Eli Heidenreich for years and years and years.”
Although it was clearly a passing situation, and Heidenreich was Navy’s top target, he was single covered over the middle.
“Tried to bring some pressure on them,” Army coach Jeff Monken said. “Good throw and good catch.”
With President Donald Trump in attendance, Navy (10-2) got its second straight victory over Army (6-6), and the Midshipmen won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for a second straight season. The Black Knights have not beaten a Navy team that was ranked by the AP since 1955.
Horvath was fortunate to have the chance to throw that decisive touchdown pass. On second-and-goal from the 1, he lost the ball while attempting a tush push. Army linebacker Eric Ford had a chance to scoop it up, but Navy running back Alex Tecza lunged over to prevent that, and Heidenreich eventually fell on the ball back at the 8.
“That’s probably the last thing you want to see on the 1-yard line is you turn around and the ball is just bouncing behind you,” Heidenreich said. “I was blocking down. I thought he had pushed in, and kind of out of my peripheral I saw it going behind me.”
On the next play, Horvath was nearly sacked, but he was able to throw the ball toward Tecza as he went down. The ball fell incomplete instead of being caught around the 15, which was just as well for Navy because it made going for it on fourth down a more viable option.
“I kind of felt like we had to,” Navy coach Brian Newberry said. “The nature of what they do offensively, despite how well we played in the second half, you may not get the ball back.”
Even after Heidenreich’s touchdown and an Army punt, Navy still had to escape one more near-turnover. On third-and-3 from the Army 43, the ball popped loose on a run by Horvath, but he was able to catch it out of the air. It came loose again and the Black Knights recovered, but after a review, Horvath was ruled down before the second fumble — a yard short of the line to gain.
Tecza then ran for the first down that enabled Navy to kneel out the clock, and Horvath appeared to wave goodbye at the Army sideline. There was a bit of a ruckus near midfield after the final kneel-down before things eventually calmed down for the traditional singing of the alma maters.
“They want to talk all their crap during the game and act like they’re so tough,” Horvath said. “The excuse last year was that they played a conference championship game before us. This year, we’ll see what it is.”
The Black Knights were trying to turn the tables on Navy after a ranked Army team — which had just won the American Conference title — lost to the Midshipmen last year.
The teams traded touchdown drives to start the game, each lasting 13 plays, 75 yards and over seven minutes. Horvath had a 5-yard scoring run, and Army quarterback Cale Hellums answered with a 2-yarder. Army’s first drive didn’t end until 5 seconds into the second quarter.
Then it was a while before anyone reached the end zone again. With Army up 10-7 late in the second quarter, the ball slipped out of Horvath’s hand while he was looking to pass. Army recovered the fumble at its own 45 with 20 seconds to play and moved into range for a 45-yard field goal by Dawson Jones.
Navy’s defense stiffened in the second half, but the Midshipmen still flirted with disaster. Horvath threw an interception in the third quarter that was initially returned to the end zone — before a replay showed Army’s Justin Weaver had a knee down when he picked off the pass at the Navy 32. The Black Knights had to settle for three — Dawson connected on a career-long 48-yard kick.
Navy’s Wing-T offense has been explosive this season. The Midshipmen entered the day with an FBS-high 10 plays of at least 60 yards. Army mostly kept them contained, but Horvath slipped free for a 37-yard run that set up a third-quarter field goal that made it 16-10.
After Hellums’ underthrown pass was intercepted by Phillip Hamilton, giving Navy the ball at the 50 with 11:19 to play, Tecza’s 24-yard run made it first-and-goal from the 5.
Trump tossed the coin before the game at midfield, then returned at halftime to walk from the Navy sideline to the Army one.
One that got away
Army defensive lineman Jack Bousum, who is from Annapolis, had a big game against his hometown team. He finished with 1 1/2 sacks and a fumble recovery.
The takeaway
Army: The Black Knights were the better team in the first half Saturday but didn’t do much offensively after that.
“They beat blocks,” Monken said. “We didn’t sustain the blocks we needed to.”
Navy: Horvath made some big plays and some bad ones, and the Navy defense was stout in the second half. The Midshipmen finished tied for first in the AAC this year but missed out on the league title game because of tiebreakers. This victory matters more to them anyway.
Up next
Army: Faces UConn in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 27.
Navy: Faces Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl on Jan. 2.
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This story has been corrected to show Army took over at the Navy 32 after Horvath’s interception.
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