We're closing our live coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. Here's a rundown of today's toplines:

• The US and Ukraine have agreed the terms of a major minerals deal, a senior Ukrainian official has confirmed to the BBC
• Media reports indicate a revised version of the document appears to have dropped a US demand to get $500bn (£395bn) in potential revenue from utilising Ukrainian natural resources, writes the BBC's Abdujalil Abdurasulov

• However it reportedly does not give firm security guarantees to war-torn Ukraine - a key Ukrainian demand
• Trump has signalled that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky may visit the White House as soon as Friday to sign the deal
• Asked what Ukraine would get in exchange, Trump said: "The right to fight on"
• The latest developments come after a tense week in US-Ukraine relations, during which Trump called Zelensky a "dictator" and the Ukrainian leader accused Trump of "living in a disinformation space" created by Russia
• They also come as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned of a "dangerous new era" ahead, saying on Tuesday that he will boost UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and cut the aid budget
• Starmer's announcement comes ahead of a high-stakes meeting between him and Trump at the White House on Thursday

Abdujalil Abdurasulov
Reporting from Kyiv

Ukrainian officials say that the new deal is much more favourable to the country, and Kyiv sees it “as a good outcome”.

According to media reports, the revised version of the document appears to have dropped the US demand to get $500bn (£395bn) in potential revenue from exploiting Ukrainian natural resources.

The US will not have full control of the fund that will be set up as part of this agreement, however the American side is expected to have a priority voice in making decisions.

Ukraine is expected to contribute 50% of revenues from its mineral resources, including oil and gas. The US will reportedly have financial commitments to support Ukraine, but that amount will be agreed later.

The new version, however, does not specify what security guarantees will be offered to Kyiv. Ukrainian officials hope that they can discuss this matter separately during a visit to Washington soon when this deal is expected to be signed.

US aid in Trump era comes with strings attachedpublished at 23:07 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February

23:07 GMT 25 February

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

“That’s what I do. I do deals,” Donald Trump said at his news conference with French President Emanuel Macron on Monday. “My whole life is deals.”

Now, Ukrainian officials have told the BBC the American president has his rare-earth deal with Ukraine, and Trump has suggested Zelensky will visit Washington DC on Friday to sign the deal.

According to the Ukrainian sources, the US had to back away from some of its more onerous demands from the war-torn nation. And many of the details of this agreement will require further negotiation.

The precedent, however, is set. US aid in the Trump era comes with strings attached. Aid for aid’s sake – whether given for humanitarian or strategic reasons – is a thing of the past.

That represents a fundamental reordering of American foreign policy for more than 75 years, from the days of the Marshall Plan to post-Cold War idealism and George W Bush’s “Freedom Agenda” push to promote global democracy.

Ukraine is just the start. Expect Trump and his foreign policy team to apply their "America First" principles around the world over the course of the next four years.

It's estimated that about 5% of the world's "critical raw materials" are in Ukraine - including:

• 19 million tonnes of proven reserves of graphite, which is used to make batteries for electric vehicles
• A third of all European lithium deposits, the key component in current batteries
• Before Russia's full-scale invasion began three years ago, Ukraine also accounted for 7% of titanium production across the globe - used in construction for everything from aeroplanes to power stations
• Ukrainian land also contains significant deposits of rare earth metals - these are a group of 17 elements that are used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products vital in the modern world

Some of the mineral deposits, however, have been seized by Russia. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's economy minister, resources worth $350bn (£277bn) remain in occupied territories today.

Back in the Oval Office, where Donald Trump's been signing executive orders, the US president's been speaking some more about the minerals deal.

Asked what Ukraine gets in exchange, Trump says: "The right to fight on."

"They’re very brave", he goes on, but "without the United States and its money and its military equipment, this war would have been over in a very short period of time."

There would be a need for "some form of peacekeeping" in Ukraine following any peace deal, Trump adds, and it will need to be "acceptable to everyone".

Asked a follow-up question - whether the provision of equipment and ammunition will be sustained going forward - he says: "Maybe until we have a deal with Russia... we need to have a deal, otherwise it's going to continue."

Image source, EPA

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has been using the last few hours to post messages of thanks on social media to his country's allies. He's made no mention of the US-Ukraine minerals deal, though.

Zelensky says he had a "constructive conversation" with French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Washington DC yesterday. "Emmanuel informed me about the outcomes of his visit," he writes on X.

Before that, in an update on Telegram, Zelensky said work had already started on the pledges made at yesterday's summit in Kyiv, where Canada's Justin Trudeau and European leaders met to mark the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"I thank everyone who was really principled on such a day," Zelensky said - adding that he's pleased Ukraine's partners are willing to increase support to achieve "peace that is honest and guarantees that the aggression will not happen again".

Donald Trump is currently signing his next bunch of executive orders in the Oval Office and as he does so, responding to various questions thrown at him by reporters in the room.

In one answer - to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - the US president says: "I hear that he's coming [to Washington] on Friday".

"Certainly it's OK with me, if he'd like to, and he would like to sign it together with me," Trump adds, referring to the minerals deal.

If that's right, such a meeting would come a week after Trump called Zelensky a "dictator" and the Ukrainian leader accused his American counterpart of "living in a disinformation space" created by Russia.

There's been no update from Kyiv about Zelensky's travel plans.

Almost two hours ago, we began hearing reports that Ukraine and the US had agreed terms for a minerals deal. Here's a quick look at what's happened since:

• At around 19:30 GMT, the Financial Times newspaper reported that terms had been agreed between the two countries, citing Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna
• Roughly half an hour later, AFP news said the same - though it cited a senior Ukrainian official source who didn't want to be named
• Other outlets, including Bloomberg and Reuters news agency, soon followed - all citing their own sources
• All the while, our own teams were contacting officials and sources in Washington and Kyiv to stand up the reports
• Then, just after 21:00 GMT, the BBC heard directly from a senior Ukrainian official that the US and Ukraine had indeed agreed the terms of the minerals deal - a reminder, though, that the White House has not yet commented

It remains unclear when this agreement might be officially signed. We're also unclear what exactly is included in the deal, though the BBC's been told it contains "a number of good amendments".

A senior Ukrainian official tells the BBC that the US and Ukraine have agreed the terms of an agreement that relates to critical minerals and other resources.

“We have indeed agreed it with a number of good amendments and see it as a positive outcome,” the official says.

The White House is yet to confirm that the deal has been agreed. The BBC has asked for comment from the US side.

• As a reminder: In our earlier post, we brought you all the details we know - and don't know - about this deal. More details could well emerge now that the deal seems to have been agreed.

Ukrainian media is now also reporting that the US and Ukraine have "agreed details" of the minerals accord.

"The document is set to be signed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio," the Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda suggests.

In other details, the site's economics outlet, known as EP, reports that the two countries will create a "Reconstruction Investment Fund", which it says will be "calculated according to the countries' actual contributions to it".

The Ukrainian media site adds that the US "intends to make a financial commitment to Ukraine", which will be determined separately.

It also says the agreement "does not contain clear security guarantees", as reported earlier by the Financial Times.

Image source, Getty Images

Critical minerals "are the foundation of the 21st Century economy", according to political scientist Dr Robert Muggah.

They are key to renewable energy, military applications and industrial infrastructure, he says, as well as playing "a growing strategic role in geopolitics and geo-economics".

And on this front, the US is keen to reduce its dependency on China, which currently controls around 75% of rare earth deposits in the world, according to the Geological Investment Group.

China has also previously limited its mineral exports to the US, before banning the export of some rare earth minerals in December.

One of President Donald Trump's top advisers, Mike Walz, told US news outlet NewsNation that the deal was "about growing the pie economically and binding the US and Ukraine together for the future".

• You can learn more about why Washington is pushing for access to Ukraine's critical minerals

With some of the details around the US-Ukraine minerals deal still unclear, let’s take a moment to go through what has been reported about the possible agreement.

The Financial Times was the first to report that an agreement is close to being reached. The news site doesn’t give a timeframe for when exactly a deal might be confirmed, but it says it has spoken to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.

The FT claims that the US has dropped its demands for access to $500bn (£394.7bn) in potential revenue, but the newspaper also says it is unclear if there are guarantees for Ukraine’s safety - which Zelensky has sought - included in the agreement.

News agency AFP also reports that terms have been agreed on a minerals deal. The agency cites an unnamed senior Ukrainian official who says: "we are considering a visit to Washington for Friday to sign the agreement."

Meanwhile, Bloomberg news reports that Ukraine’s cabinet is set to recommend that the deal is signed on Wednesday.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've just reported, Ukraine and the US are expected to reach an agreement on a deal for Ukraine's natural minerals soon - but what does that mean?

Donald Trump says the US is seeking access to Ukraine's minerals in return for previous aid - with Ukraine insisting on security guarantees going forward.

Last week, Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a US demand for $500bn in mineral wealth, saying nowhere near that much aid had been provided, adding: "I can't sell our state."

A deal now seems to be close - but it's not yet known which minerals it would cover, how much the US would try to recoup from previous aid, and what any future "security guarantee" could look like.

Ukraine holds huge deposits of critical elements and minerals, including lithium and titanium, as well as sizeable coal, gas, oil and uranium deposits - supplies worth billions of dollars.

Last year, Zelensky presented his "victory plan" to Ukraine and its western partners, which proposed that foreign firms could gain access to some of the countries' mineral wealth at the end of the war.

It said "strategic partners" could receive a "special agreement for the joint protection of the country's critical resources, as well as joint investment and use of this economic potential".

It was one of five points he put forward - which included an invitation for Ukraine to join Nato.

There appears to be some movement on the minerals deal currently being negotiated between the US and Ukraine.

Ukraine has agreed to terms with Washington DC on the deal, but it's not yet been signed, according to reports in the Financial Times and the AFP news agency.

The FT, which first reported the news, cites Ukraine's deputy prime minister and justice minister Olha Stefanishyna as saying the minerals deal is "only part of the picture".

The US has dropped demands for a right to $500bn (£394.7bn) in potential revenue from utilising the natural resources, the FT says, but Ukraine has been pressing for security guarantees from the US. It is not clear if such guarantees are included in the revised deal.

The BBC has not yet been able to independently verify the reports.

We'll bring you more on this as we learn it - stay with us.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, Republican lawmaker Mike Johnson was asked for his opinion on claims Donald Trump has made in the past week or so about Ukraine, its leader and the war with Russia.

Johnson didn't weigh in directly on Trump's remarks - instead saying that throughout last year’s election cycle he promised that Trump would be the "changing agent", and the only person who could get both Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table.

You start any arbitration process by "meeting individually with the two parties", Johnson said, and current talks are "very productive". He also praised Trump for talking about getting Ukraine "back to a posture of peace".

Johnson added that the US wants "to get back to free and fair elections there, just as we fight for here, and we fight for throughout the world".

• For context: The US and Russia held talks last week in Saudi Arabia about ending the war in Ukraine, which Ukraine was not invited to join. Days later, Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of being a "dictator" and questioned why no elections had been held during the war. Zelensky's five-year term was due to come to an end in May 2024, but Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, meaning elections are suspended.

Could Keir Starmer’s announcement today help Ukraine?

Our colleagues at Ukrainecast have been discussing the prime minister's decision to boost UK defence spending, while cutting spend on aid, and what it could mean for the war in Ukraine - something we touched on earlier in our live coverage.

The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko are joined by Shashank Joshi, defence editor at the Economist, to chew over whether it could help Kyiv.

• Listen via BBC Sounds

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

A few interesting details to bring you from this briefing.

Asked about the minerals deal with Ukraine, Leavitt - Trump's press secretary - doesn't say a lot, but does say the US president sees it as "critical" to ensure taxpayers are "repaid" for what the US has contributed to Ukraine.

She has no further updates on Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky's potential visit to Washington, after Trump said yesterday that it could happen as early as this week or next.

And in response to a separate question about Trump's meeting with Ukraine, and any concessions that Russia would have to make, Leavitt says only that the "president knows how to make a deal more than anyone who has ever assumed the office".

Without providing details, Leavitt says all sides in a negotiation leave feeling "a little unhappy". She then attacks the Biden administration's handling of the war in Ukraine.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Here at the White House, where UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is scheduled to appear later this week, the daily briefing is under way - and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is going through a list of what the Trump administration considers to be its wins so far.

This includes immigration and a legal battle with the Associated Press, which Leavitt speaks of while standing between two large electric screens with the words "Victory" over "Gulf of America."

She also vows to shake-up the pool of reporters allowed access into White House events and to travel with the president.

So far, there's been no mention of Ukraine or Starmer's imminent visit.

I'll bring you any interesting developments we hear, and you can also watch live at the top of the page.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Keir Starmer all but acknowledged this surprise decision was influenced by the US president.

"The last few weeks have accelerated my thinking on when we needed to make this announcement and I’ll be very clear about that," he told reporters in Downing Street.

The next question is whether this will bring Trump around to Europe’s thinking on Ukraine needing to be part of peace talks, and steering him away from giving Russia a victory.

"Unpredictable" is the word many in Westminster use to describe Trump. And it is almost impossible to know if this peace offering will sway the president.

As we reported earlier, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was a "strong step from an enduring partner".

Officials in Downing Street will be hoping their plan gets an equally warm reception when they visit the White House on Thursday.

Will this be the largest rise in defence spending since Cold War?published at 18:13 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February

18:13 GMT 25 February

By Anthony Reuben

Keir Starmer described his announcement today as “the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”.

We don’t know exactly what measure he is using for this, but government spending is usually measured as a proportion of the size of the economy measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

UK spending on defence - using this measure - has been on a downward trend since the mid to late 1980s, according to figures, external from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

While there have been a few years that have shown increases, these have been one-offs, so cannot be considered as “sustained” rises.